


Awesome Twosome

by sorion



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-17
Updated: 2011-11-17
Packaged: 2017-10-26 04:55:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/278930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sorion/pseuds/sorion
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They have a lot in common... or they clash. Either way, they fit. (Short story vignettes. Written in 2010.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Who Da Man?

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter inspired by a ficlet I read probably over three years ago, or so. (I tried to track the writer down, but I have no clue where to start anymore. Let me know if you know who it is.) Some basic things might be remembered from there, others are just me playing around with the two ;)

  


**Who Da Man?**

 

Tony took his coffee from the coffee machine, added some sugar and stirred it.  
Damn. It was too early. Even more so, since last night had got quite late. “So, how much longer, Jarvis?”

“Twenty-three minutes, sir.”

“Good,” he said, cheerfully. “Can’t keep a guy from his car, too long, can you?”

“If you say so, sir,” Jarvis replied, after which the electronic voice faded away, again.

Tony smirked into his cup. No, you can’t keep a guy from his car. Especially not this guy, and most certainly not from such a beauty of a car. Not that its driver was any less intriguing.

Huh. Apparently, the morning was not early enough for him to not appreciate eye-candy when he was presented with some, after all.

 

Tony lifted his head a bit when the quiet and constant hum of his chestplate was interrupted by timid or possibly even insecure steps from outside of the kitchen. Bare-footed, if he was not mistaken.

His smirk widened. He waited until the steps had obviously carried the person belonging to them to the kitchen door, then he said loudly: “Good morning, cupcake!”  
He turned around, thoroughly enjoying what was presented to him. Nothing beat the view of a fellow billionaire wearing nothing but a half-open bathrobe and an endearingly confused expression.

Bruce Wayne ventured some more steps into the kitchen and put a careful hand on the back of a kitchen chair. “Good morning…”

Tony had to give him that; he didn’t go right for the “what the hell happened, last night?” speech. So he just smiled serenely as an answer.

Bruce seemed even more confused by the smile (or possibly Tony’s attire – or lack thereof – consisting of sweatpants and nothing else) and finally cleared his throat. “Uh… just how much did I have to drink, yesterday?”

Tony couldn’t help it, his smirk was back, full force. “Not enough to impair your performance, let me assure you,” he all but growled.

Bruce blinked at him, owlishly and pulled out the chair he was holding.

Tony tilted his head, playfully. “I’m kind of insulted that you wouldn’t remember…” It was kinda hard to get that out with a straight face. Oh, Bruce remembered. It was obvious. The man was merely still in his how-the-hell-did-I-end-up-in-bed-with-a-guy stage. This didn’t mark the first time Tony was confronted with that particular expression.  
No matter. He’d make sure Bruce would lose it, again, soon enough.

Bruce gingerly sat down.

Tony patiently waited until Bruce was seated and he could make out that tell-tale little flinch from doing so. “Remember now?” he asked, sporting angelically wide brown eyes, hardly able to hide the impish gleam in them.

Bruce's lips lifted in a half-smile, which pleased Tony to no end, and said: “Like you said. I wasn’t that drunk.”

Tony chuckled, the imp now making room for genuine amusement. “Coffee?”

“Please,” Bruce agreed and nodded, slowly relaxing.

Tony turned to the coffee machine and pressed a button. “By the way…” he started, talking over his shoulder, “… that bat mobile of yours should be done and ready in about twenty minutes.”  
He waited for the whirring of the machine to stop, took the cup and just kept rambling while he brought his guest his drink. “Some ugly fractures on that pretty hull, three new tires, and we definitely had to look at those brakes, because I don’t think bodily lifting the whole damn car is how you usually want to stop it; also, I might not always be around to save your delectable hide…”  
He stopped in mid-ramble, coffee in hand, when he saw Bruce stare at him, shell-shocked. “What?”

“Wh-?” Bruce shook his head. “What did you just call my car?”

Tony blinked. “Bat mobile? Isn’t that what you call it?”

“Not _that_ car!” Bruce all but screeched. “And definitely not while I’m… I’m…”

Tony rolled his eyes and put down the cup. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re Batman. Yadda yadda yadda. Sugar?”

Bruce reached for the cup out of reflex. “No, thanks,” he said, appearing for all the world like he couldn’t believe he even answered that question in such a situation.

“Milk? Cream?” Tony allowed himself to add a tiny leer to the second word. It was just too much fun seeing fucking Batman come undone like that…

“Tony!” Bruce very hard tried to sound outraged, but he could hardly hide another smile.

Tony fell into the second chair and grasped for his heart. “Ah! You remember my name, darling!”

“Yes, well, I did my homework. Same as you.” He shook his head, incredulous at himself and Tony, but amused again.

“And yet you’re shocked at hearing your pseudonym.”

Bruce sipped his coffee. It was really good. He’d have to ask Tony what kind he used. “Not all of us are as liberal with names as you, my friend.”

Tony grinned and leaned forward, conspiratorially. “Just between us… _Men_ …”

Bruce snorted.

Tony chuckled with him. “Seriously. We’re quite safe, here. You have my word.”

This was probably the first time Bruce saw an honestly serious expression on Tony Stark’s face. It frighteningly made him believe every word he said.  
He nodded. “Alright. I’ll take your word.”

In return, Tony looked all too pleased with himself, again.

Bruce wanted to kiss that smug little smile off the handsome face and…  
He cleared his throat and leaned back in his seat (when had he even leaned forward?), trying to compose himself. “So, uh. Twenty minutes, you said?”

“Hm,” Tony made, neither denying nor agreeing. “You’re not leaving, already, are you?” Not after the look he had just got from the other man! It would be a damn shame if he let him go, now.

“I…” Why the hell was that (fake) lost puppy face so endearing and irresistible?

“And here I thought you could maybe return the favour…” Tony said.

“What favour?” Bruce only realised that he should not have asked that when Tony firmly straddled his lap and was leaning in impossibly close within the blink of an eye.  
He didn’t even notice his hands going straight for the other man’s hips.

Tony leaned almost close enough for their lips to brush, but stopped millimetres before a kiss and let both of them breathe each other’s air.  
“Do you give as good as you take?” Tony whispered, challenging.

This was the moment Bruce thought something along the lines of _‘to hell with… whatever it was I was thinking’_ and leaned in for the hint of a kiss, tongues only just brushing.  
Despite his resolution, he had to pull back, again, after only a moment. Re-assess the situation. Realise what the fuck he was doing and who the hell he was doing it with, no matter how hot that person might have been. He looked up.  
God. He could get lost in those eyes. “You have very nice eyes,” was out of his mouth before he could stop it.

Tony seemed pleased and amused, again. “You’re an eye-man,” he noted.

Bruce rolled his eyes. “Enough with the man jokes, already.”

Tony snickered. He quite liked Bruce’s eyes, come to think of it. Dark, hazel and… very cool. Calm. Controlled. Collected.  
“And you need to relax more, gorgeous,” he stated and dove in for a passionate kiss, not leaving any room for doubts as to what his intentions were. His fingers went straight to the hair that he so loved to muss out of its usually perfectly coiffure style, as he had discovered, yesterday.  
It was not like Bruce was averse to the idea, he just needed a little urging on.

In this case, the urging that was needed lasted for less than a second before Bruce returned every moan, lick, bite and nip with fervour, continuing right where they stopped, last night.  
There was something to be said for having another male in his arms instead of a female. The strength, the struggle for dominance, the undeniable proof of desire…

“Good morning, boss.”

This made Bruce startle horribly and Tony lean back, his annoyingly cheerful grin back in place.

“Good morning, Pepper.” He looked down at Bruce, almost smirking again at the dishevelled appearance, but changing his mind and toning it down to a fond smile. “Batman, this is my Super-Pepper. Super-Pepper, Batman,” he introduced.

Bruce groaned. Tony was a handful and a half. He was also damn intoxicating.

Pepper rolled her eyes, on her part not trying to hide her amusement, but not even blushing. “Good morning, Mr Wayne.”

“Good morning,” Bruce replied, politely and sighed. It was better to just give in.

Pepper held out a data pad and showed it to Tony before putting it on the table. “I’m terribly sorry to interrupt your… important meeting, but I’m bound to inform you that you have previously scheduled engagements, this afternoon.”

Tony looked at Bruce, seriously. “She so wants me.”

“I can barely hold myself back,” she replied immediately, deadpan.

Tony laughed and leaned back in to kiss Bruce, quickly. Before Pepper could leave, though, he said over Bruce’s shoulder: “If you want to see the not-quite-bat mobile; it’s in the garage. Doesn’t have the bat look, but definitely the bat tech.”

Pepper’s eyes seemed interested, while her little smile showed no reaction. “I might just do that.”

“Also…” Tony added, “just in case you’ll be wondering…” He locked eyes with Bruce. “Despite the impressive car, he’s got nothing to compensate.”

“I can see that…” she agreed, raising an intrigued eyebrow. After a moment, though, she turned and left the kitchen.  
She heard her boss laugh heartily at that. The sound was being closely followed by more passionate kissing.

 

On her way to the garage she wondered if she could sweet-talk Jarvis into letting her tap into the private surveillance…

 

_TBC_


	2. Pleased to Meet You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prequel to "Who Da Man?" (but meant to be read after the first part). The night before the morning after ;)

Tony Stark was downing his second drink of the evening (within less than five minutes), and it looked like there would be a lot more of those, if nothing entertaining happened very soon…

He heard familiar steps click-clacking his way, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Without turning around he said, quietly: “Pep, please tell me there’s someone worth talking to, here, or I’ll be gone before those airheads can even get their check books out.”

Pepper Potts cleared her throat as a warning. “It’s a charity event, Mr Stark. Just because you so far donated the largest amount of money doesn’t mean the foundation doesn’t need everybody else’s.”

Tony turned towards her with a pained expression. “Please, find me some entertainment? Please?”

Her lip twitched, and she averted her eyes.

Tony’s eyes narrowed. “You know something,” he accused her.

“Well,” she began, making sure her expression was as neutral as she could manage. “Most of them are not playing in your league, but that’s nothing new.” She tried to say that as quietly as possible; the last thing she needed was someone overhearing her or her boss talking down donors with loose change. “There are two people from Gotham, though…”

“Gotham?” Tony shuddered. “Have you ever been to Gotham? That has got to be the nastiest city on the whole damn planet. I think their quota of sunny days per year is exactly zero. Never mind that they have even worse whack-jobs locked away than we do here, and I should know, I get to catch those on a regular ba... sis…” He stopped, mid-rant, and his eyes lit up.  
“Ohhh…” He held up a finger and waggled it at Pepper. “Oh, you!”

Pepper grinned. “I thought you might be interested in meeting him.”

“Am I ever!” he agreed, mischief practically radiating off him, while he scanned the large room.

Pepper looked mildly alarmed and inconspicuously grabbed Tony’s sleeve. “I don’t have to remind you what the _secret_ part of _secret identity_ means, do I?” she whispered, urgently.

Tony rolled his eyes. “I’m not gonna unmask him, give me a little credit.”

She still appeared sceptical. “I’m never quite sure with you…”

Tony’s eyes found their target. “Oooh! Serious eye-candy.”

Pepper followed his line of sight. “Him or his plus one?”

Tony pulled a face. “That man has no taste in women.” Which answered her question, really.  
He tilted his head and lowered his voice. “And the pictures of him with the mask and the stupid pointy ears don’t do him justice.”

“He looks much better in Armani,” Pepper agreed.

Tony already manoeuvred his way through the people, Pepper following him.

“As do you, by the way,” she said, smirking.

Tony turned to her, aghast, with a hand on his chest. “Miss Potts, I must say that I am very surprised that you would think my armour is anything but incredibly cute, thank you very much.”

She laughed. “Whatever you say, Mr Stark.”

“And it’s flashy.”

“Absolutely.” That one was hard to disagree with.

Tony nodded, firmly, smirking and continued to march towards the one he was looking for. Whom he reached only moments later.  
The man recognised him, right away, and Tony sent him a wide smile and held out his hand in a greeting.  
“Bruce Wayne,” he said.

“Tony Stark,” Wayne replied, sounding honestly impressed and took the offered hand. Then he turned to introduce the woman by his side. “And this is Tanja Helis, Gotham’s very own contribution to Hollywood.”

“Pleasure,” Tony assured her, taking her hand. “This is my assistant, Pepper Potts.”

Another round of hands were shaken, accompanied by nods and smiles, after which it became very clear that Tanja was indeed just the “plus one” of the invite. The boys seemed to be in their element.

“You are a difficult man to get a hold of, Mr Stark,” Wayne noted.

Tony looked just the tiniest bit chastised. He had been very aware that some of Wayne’s associates had tried to contact him, but he’d been busy with a project, and he wasn’t all that interested in meeting sockpuppets, anyway. Especially if the man behind them was as intriguing as this one.  
“Yeah, well… Pepper would be the first to tell you that it’s a bit like calling a kid to dinner while he’s playing in the sandbox, Mr Wayne.”

Wayne chuckled. “Call me Bruce.”

“Will do. Tony suits me much better than Mr Stark, anyway, Bruce.”

Bruce assessed his counterpart. He was still smiling pleasantly, but, yes, he was most definitely assessing. “So that’s what it takes to get you to speak to me? A nice charity party?”

Tony pursed his lips and shook his head. “M-m. No. All it took was you showing up personally.”

Bruce laughed. “Nice.” He nodded. “Well, I guess superheroes don’t have the time to deal with lackeys, do they?”

It took all of Tony’s restraint to not rise to that bait. He also knew that it took all of Pepper’s restraint to not step on his foot to stop him from saying something stupid.

Tony was well aware of the fact that Bruce was sounding him. That was not a random question. How could it be, Wayne being who he was? The man might have had the billionaire playboy image down to a T – and most likely some part of him actually was just that – but there was undeniable steel under the façade when one knew where to look. And Tony did know that very well.

Tony decided the only course of action in such a situation – if only for that particular moment – was serious honesty. “Don’t listen to the media. It’s not very heroic from where I’m standing.”

That was when Tanja piped up. “You shouldn’t be so modest!” she insisted.

Tony smiled, benignly. “That’s not usually my style, either.” He winked, making everyone laugh.

Pepper’s laugh sounded a tad tense, as if she was still not really sure whether or not it was too early to breathe a sigh of relief, or if Tony was merely waiting for a better opportunity to get a rise out of Wayne.

Bruce conceded with a tilt of his head. “Either way, you’re doing a good job.”

“High praise,” Tony said. A lot higher than coming from most people, as he was well aware. “But I do hope that’s not the good job Wayne Enterprises are interested in. The Iron Man is not up for sale or fusion.” He grinned.

“I’d be lying if I said that I wouldn’t sell a kidney for the tech in that suit, but no.”

“Your kidneys are better left where they are, anyway.”

Bruce chuckled. “Drink?”

“Absolutely.” And off they went, leaving the ladies behind.

 

Pepper sighed, and Tanja took two glasses of Champaign off a waiter’s plate, handing one to Pepper, saying, “ _Boys_ …”

Pepper nodded, taking the offered drink. “He does that a lot.” Somehow, she didn’t have it in her to begrudge Tony his fun. It was a joy to watch him when he was truly engaged.

She was also happy to find out that despite her initial reaction to Tanja when she had seen her across the room, she was actually a fun conversationalist.

*

Pepper patted Tony on the shoulder while sitting next to him in the passenger seat of the car on their way back to the house. “Well done.”

Tony cleared his throat. “Yeah, I did well, didn’t I?” He smirked. “I was being restrained. And not just with holding back on teasing him, but I only had _one_ more drink. The whole evening.” He harrumphed. “Bastard only had one, and I couldn’t very well give him the upper hand.”

“You deserve a medal.”

“A big one. In red and gold.”

Pepper snorted.

“Jokes aside,” Tony added, “if he hadn’t been actually interesting to talk to, I would have blown it.”

“Interesting?” She wouldn’t have called Wayne all that interesting. Not when she took the Batman out of the equation; and Wayne would of course have done so in public. And the whole filthy-rich thing got old after a while…

“He’s smart. Real smart. Not as smart as me, though,” he added quickly.

“Of course not.”

Tony’s lip twitched. “And his public persona is nearly perfect. I was impressed.”

“So you didn’t tell him that you know?”

“Naw. He’ll figure it out given a day or two. If he doesn’t, he’s not as smart as I think he is.” He turned to look at her. “And you know I’m always right.”

“Well, he does have that day or two, since you actually both agreed to a meeting.”

 

They entered the garage, and the moment they got out of the car, Jarvis greeted them with a message.

“Sir, your car needs immediate attention.”

Tony blinked startled. “Car’s fine.” He patted the top.

“The brakes have been tampered with. It was only because of your fail-safe system that the car managed to override it.”

“What? What the hell kind of idiot would think he’d get anywhere with that with one of my babies?”

Pepper stood there with wide eyes. “Someone tried to kill us?” She didn’t really know if she should be shocked or grateful or something else entirely. They had just been driving home. Nothing had happened. “Tony?”

Tony still had his hand on the car. “Someone who didn’t know that it would take more than tampered brakes to get through my systems.” The wheels in his head were churning.

“Tony? What are you talking…”

“Jarvis! Suit. Now.”

“Right away, sir,” Jarvis said, while at the same time Pepper yelled “Tony!” and ran after him.

Tony hopped onto the platform to get his suit, ripped his half-opened bow tie and jacket off and already rambled off another order to Jarvis. “Find me the cell phone number of Bruce Wayne, get me a connection and give me the location.”

“Will do, sir.”

Pepper came to a standstill next to Tony and watched him being armoured. “What’s going on?”

“And Jarvis, notify the police that there might be more hazardous cars from that party.”

“Yes, sir.”

Then Tony turned to Pepper, just before his mask was put on. “That was not someone from my playground. There was only one person interesting enough at that party for some punk to come all the way here.”  
With that, the mask closed and Tony was off, leaving one startled Pepper behind.

 

After only a few moments, Jarvis contacted Tony, again. “I have the number, sir, but the tracking might take more time, he has several sweeping programs preventing it.”

“Gimme the connection, then!” Tony ordered. “Fucking Wayne,” he mumbled. “Crap security in his damn car, but a sweeper on his stupid phone.”

“Wayne.”

“Uh, Bruce, hi, it’s Tony.”

“Something about the meeting tomorrow?” Wayne sounded confused.

“No. Where are you?”

“In my car. Tony, what…?”

“Do the brakes work?”

Wayne was about to go for a very incredulous _‘What?’_ , but instead it took a moment, and the answer instead was a very grave “No”.

“Uh… okay. Keep her steady, then. I’m on my way. Where are you?”

Wayne hesitated.

“Bruce!”

“Coastline.”

Tony groaned, not even bothering to ask where exactly. “You’re heading towards a nice cliff to fall off of, aren’t you,” he accused the other man, already calculating where and how far Bruce could have headed after the party and flying in that direction, as well.

“I’ll try not to.”

Tony thought he could make out the sounds of some tires screeching. He did not like that sound one bit. “Just how fast are you?”

Wayne hesitated, again. “Too fast. The damn brakes worked fine when I was still in the centre!”

“Sir,” Jarvis interrupted. “I have pinpointed Mr Wayne’s location.” He uploaded the data to Tony’s monitor.

“About damn time!” Tony cursed. “Keep going steady, Bruce, I’ll be there in a sec.”

“What the hell are you going to do? Catch me?”

“That was the plan.” He could see the cliff his monitor was pointing him towards, but he was still too far away to see the car.

 

Bruce tried to keep his hands on the wheel. He had tried to open the door and just jump out, but apparently, whoever had killed the brakes, had also jammed the door.  
“I hope you’re in that suit of yours, Tony, because I can’t open the door, either.” His eyes widened when he saw what lay ahead.

“I’m in the suit. Almost there.”

Bruce took a deep breath. He couldn’t stop, he couldn’t get out, and he was already dangerously fast to stay on the costal street that might not have been all that narrow under normal circumstances, but was definitely way too narrow for the speed he was currently at. Not to mention…  
“You’d better be, or you can find another guy to do business with, Stark. There’s a u-turn and I can’t take it!”

“Okay, I need you to trust me. Go straight ahead; it would be harder to catch you when you swivel!”

Bruce really, really hoped that his being a good judge of character remained true for this guy. “You better know what you’re doing.”

He held his breath, kept his hands tight on the steering wheel and saw a shadow speed towards him, just when he was about to...

The car went over the edge, then jostled, but couldn’t have fallen more than maybe ten feet.

“Gotcha!”

Bruce released the breath he’d been holding and gasped. He stared ahead. The red and gold was now clearly visible in the head-lights.  
“You look pretty damn heroic from where I’m sitting,” he blurted out.

Tony laughed, just as out of breath as Bruce. Then he looked at the car. “Nice one,” he complimented. “Gonna have to... sorry...” He lifted the car enough so that he could place the back wheels on the cliff. “I’m really sorry.” With that, he ripped off first one front wheel and then the other.

“I think I can forgive you just this once.” He didn’t feel like speeding, anymore. “Put me down?”

“Tell you what,” Tony began. “I got a better idea. I’m just gonna...” He lifted the car completely and headed off. “Just relax.”

“Tony!”

Tony laughed, again. “Don’t tell me you’re scared of heights.”

“I am when I’m sitting in a damn car, flying over the ocean!”

Tony snickered. “Just five more minutes, handsome, then you and your car will be safe in my garage, and we can take care of what’s wrong with it.”

It took a minute for Bruce to come to terms with the fact that he wasn’t in control, and he really hated that. After that, the whole situation just appeared weirdly funny to him.  
He listened to Tony talking to his AI.

“Jarvis, have the police been informed?”

“Yes, sir. The remaining cars will be investigated, and there have not been any other accidents with guests to this point.”

“That’s one piece of good news, anyway.”

Bruce silently agreed. He himself had calmed down somewhat; it was obvious that Stark knew what he was doing. The car was being held steadily.  
Since he was flying backwards, though, he turned around in his seat to see where they were headed. “You do that often?” he asked.

“Taking billionaires out for a scenic tour? Sure.”

That made Bruce laugh despite the situation.

 

Iron Man manoeuvred the car directly into his workshop where Pepper already waited for them, looking nervous and then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw both men unharmed.

“Jarvis,” Tony immediately said while putting down the car gently, “open Mr Wayne’s door and shut off the engine.” The engine of the car was still running for a few moments more, until one of the robotic arms reached under the car and turned it off, just as the door was opened.

Bruce would have lied had he said that he didn’t feel very much relieved to feel solid ground under his feet, once more.

Pepper came running towards him. “Mr Wayne, are you alright?”

Bruce just nodded and turned around to see what the whirring sound was about… and his eyes widened. There, in the middle of the room, Tony Stark was being revealed, piece by piece. That was… impressive.

Tony grinned at him, as the machine was pulling at him. “Hey, there, Brucie. That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Bruce froze for a second, then grinned. The adrenalin rush had dwindled on the flight here, and well, he was used to dealing with adrenalin.  
“Thank you. Seriously.”

Tony hopped off the platform, marched to Bruce and patted him on the shoulder. “No need. We should do this, again, sometime.” He winked.

“Uh…” Bruce looked at him sceptically. “Just without the driving off the cliff part, if you don’t mind.”

“The _what_?” Pepper almost squeaked.

Tony chuckled. “No worries. Everyone’s fine.” He directed Bruce out of the shop with his arm still around his shoulder. “You didn’t have to wait up for us; it’s past two. Your work for today is done. Thank you, Miss Potts.”

Bruce was going to thank her, too, but Tony dragged him along, already talking, again.

“Jarvis, I need a damage report on that car.”

“Certainly, sir.”

“Bruce, my man, what we need now is pizza and a drink or several. Jarvis, order us some pizza, will you?”

“Right away, sir.”

“What a way to close a night, eh, Bruce?”

 

Pepper looked after them, amused. “Batman or not. He won’t know what hit him,” she murmured.

*

One hour later – past three, give or take – found the two men sitting on the couch in the living room with an empty pizza box and two glasses that had held a drink – or several - their bare feet on the coffee table.

Bruce was leaning his head back onto the headrest and… giggled.

Tony looked all too pleased with himself for having accomplished that. They hadn’t had that much to drink, though he was a little vague on the exact number of drinks, but Bruce obviously wasn’t used to it.

Bruce wiped his eyes wet from tears of laughter. “You know… now I’m curious about what she caught you doing that was worse than coming home with a suit full of holes.” He snickered.

Tony was on the last swallow of his drink and choked, coughing a moment. “No… you really don’t wanna know. Trust me on that.”

“I trust you,” Bruce said, smiling at him. His eyes were sparkling of amusement and alcohol.

Tony sobered just a bit. “Not quite yet.”

Bruce looked at him, puzzled, but still smiling.

“But that’s okay,” Tony said. “I have time.”

Bruce blinked at him and lolled his head to the side. He frowned and turned it back and blinked some more. “That’s funny…”

Tony was about to pour himself another drink. “What is?”

“When I…” Bruce turned his head to the left and right, several times, frowning. “From the corner of my eyes…” He blinked, again. “Your chest is kinda glowing.”

Tony put the glass back down and smiled. It wasn’t a cocky, mischievous or even truly amused smile. It was warm. He cleared his throat, leaned back and continued to open his shirt farther down than the two buttons that had already been open. All the while, he kept his eyes on Bruce, watching the other man’s become clearer and clearer.

Bruce squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, to get rid of the misty sheen and leaned forward. “Oh, my God.”

“Nice, huh?” Tony just opened all the buttons, pulled the shirt out of his pants and let it fall open.

Bruce inched closer and reached a tentative hand for the glowing device in the middle of Tony’s chest, running a gentle finger along its rim. “What’s it do?”

“It’s just running an electromagnet,” Tony said, softly, oddly touched by Bruce’s reaction to it. “Before I got rid of the weapons development division, I made the mistake of getting in the way of one of my inventions.”

Bruce’s eyes shot up to Tony’s and widened.

Tony shrugged, crookedly. “Some shrapnel is still in there.” He knocked on the reactor. “This keeps it from moving around.”

Bruce looked at the glow, awed. “It’s beautiful.” He moved his right hand to the side and laid it flat on the chest. “I mean… it keeps your heart beating, right?”

Tony wasn’t sure if the alcohol in his system let him hide the effect the warm hand on his skin had on him. On the other hand, Bruce was too sloshed to notice, most likely.  
“Well, it’s not like it’s a pacemaker. ‘M not an old man or anything.”

Bruce’s left hand drifted off the device and onto the chest, now, too, while the right one slowly moved lower along the side. His eyes followed his hands and roamed over the naked torso. “Beautiful…” he whispered, this time pretty obviously not talking about the arc reactor.

Tony breathed deeply. “Oh, dammit,” he swore.

Before Bruce even knew what had happened, strong hands had lifted his head, and passionate, warm lips kissed him. He responded in kind before he realised that it was a kiss, that there were roaming, gripping and pulling hands, that it was a man in his arms. He was moaning deeply at the burning touches and kisses, before he ever knew just how much he wanted this.  
But he didn’t have to know or realise any of that. He could _feel_ it.

Tony was busy fumbling Bruce’s buttons open, while Bruce in return pushed Tony’s shirt off his shoulders.

Bruce enjoyed the feel of strong muscles on the other’s shoulders and for a moment forgot that he wanted to get the shirt out of the way and just kneaded the flesh he found there. The muscles under his fingers tensed when Tony just ripped Bruce’s remaining buttons open and pushed his shirt back.  
That trapped Bruce’s hands behind his back while they both struggled with his cufflinks that were soon being ripped off like the buttons and rolled onto the floor.

Tony gave his own cufflinks a short shrift and then threw his shirt away.

The two men stared each other for long seconds, their chests heaving, before they came together in another frantic embrace and kiss.

Tony for a brief second considered just throwing Bruce back on the couch and having his way with him, right then and there, but they’d probably fall off the damn thing and they didn’t have… that other… uh… _Fuck_ , those hands and lips were distracting. Lube! Right. They didn’t have any lube, here. And condoms. And Tony very much planned on needing some of both.

Bruce was in the process of proving that he wasn’t too drunk to get Tony’s belt open and then proceeded to prove the same thing for button and zipper.

Tony let him open the pants and quickly stood to let them fall to the floor and kicked them away. Then he reached down, gently framed Bruce’s flushed face and leaned in for a soft kiss. “I think maybe we should continue this upstairs?”  
Oh, God. The man was looking at him with wide, hazel eyes; his hair was out of its usual shape and flopping into his face; the lips were red and glistening… Tony had to kiss him, again.

Bruce still hadn’t caught his breath and wasn’t really sure what he would have said, if he _had_. So he just nodded and let himself be pulled up by a hand.

Tony kept Bruce’s hand firmly in his and led the man out of the living room and towards the stairs, until he felt a film pull and for a moment feared that maybe Bruce got cold feet.

“Tony…”

“Yeah?” It didn’t really look like Bruce had cold feet, Tony thought. He moved closer and slung one arm around Bruce’s waist.

“This might not be…” He was going to say _‘a good idea’_ , but that was not at all what he meant, so he re-phrased in his mind. “The press really shouldn’t…”

Tony held Bruce closely and kissed him deeply. “They won’t. I promise.” He kissed along the cheek to Bruce’s ear and felt the other man shudder.  
“Come upstairs with me?” he whispered, raspily.

That woke some of the fighting spirit hiding beneath the alcohol, and Bruce delved for a passionate kiss, holding Tony in a firm grip.

Tony moaned, loudly and broke the kiss after a minute. “Upstairs. Now.”

Bruce smirked at him. “Lead the way.”

 

They stumbled up the stairs and into the bedroom, not bothering to turn on the lights, all the while kissing and refusing to let the other go.

Tony kissed, nipped and bit along Bruce’s neck, while he opened the other man’s belt, pulled it out and threw it away before opening and dropping the pants and letting him step out of them.

Bruce tilted his head to grant Tony more access and held his head close with both hands. His eyes were slits, lost in ecstasy, and yet he couldn’t help but gasp, again, when he saw the moon shine into the room and making the ocean in the distance glitter. It was just as beautiful as the sensations coursing through him.  
“This is really a nice spot you have up here,” he murmured, leaning into the caresses.

Tony kissed the corner of Bruce’s lips and chuckled. “Didn’t you have enough of the scenery for one night?” He grinned at him and raised an eyebrow.

Bruce had to laugh at that, but there was also something else. The laugh turned into a smirk. “I haven’t seen all I want to see, yet,” he said, his fingers playing with the hem of Tony’s boxers.

“Definitely worth a closer look,” Tony agreed, letting Bruce push the shorts down.

Bruce licked his lips and looked down, his hand reaching for Tony’s swelling erection. He closed his eyes and sighed from the pure pleasure of feeling another. “It’s been too long,” he said, before he pulled Tony into a kiss and gripped the other man more firmly and moved his hand, slowly.

Tony gave into the kiss and the touches, but he would have been damned had he not tried to reciprocate. He pushed Bruce’s boxers down over his firm ass, directed his very new lover to the bed, laid him down and crawled over him.

Bruce seemed confused for a moment when he found himself lying down, but when he felt the other man’s closeness and warm body atop of his, he reached for his head and pulled him into another kiss. Out of instinct, he spread his legs to accommodate Tony where he wanted him.

Their bodies aligned and both moaned into the kiss.

Tony blindly reached into the bedside drawer and threw something from it onto the bed, then he roamed his hands over the body offered to him and thrust his tongue deep into Bruce’s mouth and moving his body in promises of what was to follow, drinking the moans and whimpers he got for it in return.  
“So responsive,” he said, kissing a trail down Bruce’s arched neck. “So beautiful.”  
His hands reached the nipples only shortly before his lips replaced one of them, licking, sucking and biting just a bit.

It made Bruce bend his chest upwards more and open his legs wider.  
Despite the playboy persona he upheld, he hardly ever took anyone to his bed, anymore. He wouldn’t know how to even begin to trust them enough to fall asleep next to them, afterwards; and whenever he did take someone, he would leave before closing even one eye. Never mind that those few were and mostly had been women. There hadn’t been any men since Princeton, and that didn’t even really count. He only just now realised that they might have counted, had he let them…  
“’S good,” he whispered, threading his fingers through Tony’s dark hair.

Tony continued to kiss lower, slowly, feeling all the tenseness flowing out of Bruce, one by one. “You need this…” he said. He often said something along those lines when in bed with someone, but this time, there was no cockiness in his voice, just recognition.  
He kissed along the stomach. “I’ve got you,” he promised.

Bruce nodded, unseen, trusting. He didn’t know why he trusted Stark with, well, himself. Was it just because they both wore masks to do what they felt was right? Or was it something about Tony? Something else…?  
His eyes opened wide at the first touch of lips to his dick. Lips and tongue and the prickle of Tony’s beard. “Tony!”

Tony licked up the length and kissed the tip, doing no more than teasing Bruce, relaxing him, taking his mind off things that did not belong in the here and now. And Bruce responded to every touch as if he had been dying for just that.

The arousal made Bruce as woozy as the alcohol did. Both together felt like he’d fallen down the rabbit hole, liking very much what he found there. “Why the hell haven’t I done this more?” he asked the ceiling he was looking at.

Tony snickered. “Thanks,” he said, reaching for the tube he had thrown on the bed along with a condom, before. He opened it with one hand, spread some of the gel between both hands, pumped Bruce’s erection with one, while the other went lower.  
Tony used only his hands, this time, so that he could keep a close watch on Bruce’s face. The other man had his eyes closed, again and was leaning into the touch, not tensing up in the least. Good.  
Without another word, Tony thrust in one finger as far as it would go.

Bruce moaned loudly and threw his head back. “Oh, yes!”

Tony just moved the finger back and forth a bit, grinning. “Man, you _are_ responsive.”

Bruce laughed, luxurious. “Well, you know how to play me.”

Tony refrained from telling him that Bruce played him just as nicely, in return. He didn’t need to give the man that much leverage. Not just yet.  
“Do I?” he asked, instead and added another finger. In an almost clinical voice he continued: “How does one Bruce Wayne react to prostate stimulation, I wonder.”

Bruce breathed rapidly and deeply. “Very… uh… very well.” He did remember that one. Oh, Lord, he must have been insane going without this of his own free will.

“Does he?” Tony teased him and angled his fingers upwards before pushing them in, again.

Bruce gasped and jerked his hips off the bed. “Oh, yes, he does,” he confirmed, laughing out of the sheer pleasure his body (and Tony) granted him, only to have it become a hearty moan when Tony played him, again.  
He didn’t think, anymore; he didn’t have to. It felt so, so good to just surrender without having to submit his spirit.

Bruce opened his eyes when he felt Tony’s body cover his, again and smiled at him.

Tony smiled back, his sweaty hair falling into his face. “Hey, there.”

“Hey.” Bruce’s hand involuntarily moved to brush one of the dark strands out of the handsome face over his.

“Ready for the main course?” Tony smirked.

“If you’re up for it,” Bruce teased right back.

Tony chuckled and reached for the condom lying on the bed with one hand, ripped it open with his teeth and somehow managed to put it on with the one hand, too.

Bruce just watched him, amused at first, and then appreciative when he saw the muscles move in Tony’s shoulders and arms. He had noticed them before, and like before, he couldn’t stop himself from reaching up, running his hands over the glistening skin and kneading his hands into the hard muscles, once more.  
“Nice…” he said.

Tony managed his one-handed manoeuvre without pulling something and now just steadied his dick with the hand, while he held himself up with his other arm.  
He brushed his lips over Bruce’s. “It’s from the flying,” he explained, not finding it at all odd that anybody else would not have considered this the appropriate pillow talk in such a situation. “There are thrusters in my gloves, and I have to steady my body with my arms and shoulders.”

Bruce nodded, took a secure hold of Tony’s head and pulled him closer. “I like it.”

Then Tony kissed his lover while he slowly pushed inside, both moaning against the other’s lips.

“And this...” Bruce added. “Mmmhm. Like... yeah... like that.”

Tony pushed forwards, steadily and didn’t stop until he was seated deeply inside the younger man. He looked in the now almost black eyes of Bruce and bent down to lick his slightly parted lips.  
He smirked and flickered his eyes down and up again. “That one doesn’t need the extra training to look that good.”

Bruce half laughed, half gasped. “I bet the suit vibrates when you fly...”

Tony pulled back a bit and thrust back in, making a similar breathy chuckling sound. “Nothing beats flying.”

Bruce slung his arms around Tony’s shoulders and kissed him, deeply, enjoying every grunt and thrust and movement he got from his lover.

Tony broke the kiss, gasping. “But you get pretty damn close, gorgeous.”

Bruce was too far gone in every which way possible to question sweet-talk. More than once, he had used lines like that, had had them perfected to get exactly what he wanted. Much like Tony must have...  
Then why did he believe the man...?  
“Tony,” he all but whimpered.  
... Because he wanted to.

Tony noticed the shift in the mood and recognised it for what it was. Bruce had a very deep want to believe in people; a want that was not just deep, but also deeply buried when it came to his personal space.  
“It’s okay,” Tony said and kissed Bruce, gently, almost lovingly, keeping up the steady thrusts. He moved his arms under Bruce’s, hooked them around his shoulders and cradled his head, never breaking the kiss. That restricted his moving his hips, but right then he didn’t care, anymore.  
“It’s okay. Let go; I’ve got you,” he repeated the promise he’d made earlier between kisses.

Bruce returned the honest look, filled with passion and wrapped his legs around Tony’s torso, his arms still around the neck.  
“I trust you.” Bruce felt that he could truly trust that man with everything. His past, his family, his life... his secrets. And it had nothing to do with his mind being clouded with lust and alcohol. He just knew. Tony Stark would never betray him.

“I know. I know, Bruce.” Tony could see the honesty clearly in the other’s expression. It awed him, thrilled him, urged him on. Made him want to live up to it.

Bruce angled his hips upwards and moaned, almost desperately. “Don’t let me.” He gasped. “Don’t let me pull back, tomorrow. Don’t...”

Tony growled, lowly. “No chance in hell,” he vowed.  
That needy expression along with the strong will lying beneath it drove him nearly mad. He knew it so, so well, himself. It was terrifyingly familiar. Familiarly painful, yet fulfilling.  
His thrusts sped up.

Bruce threw his head back into the strong hands steadying him. “Tony...”

Tony would have helped Bruce along with a hand, but he didn’t want to give up the position they were in, just now. It felt too right. Just as they were supposed to be in that moment.  
“Bruce, look at me.”

Bruce opened his eyes.

“Touch yourself. Come on, do it for me...”

Bruce whimpered and lowered one hand. Only partly because he would have gone mad if he hadn’t been able to get to a release soon, but much more because it was Tony who asked him.  
He bit his lips and moaned, moving his hand as much in synch with Tony’s movements as he could.

“That’s it, Bruce” Tony urged him on. “Like that, go on.”

“Tony!”

“Let go.”

And Bruce did. With a sharp yell he reached his climax, letting go, letting himself fall.

“Oh, God, yes. _Fuck_ , you’re beautiful! Fuckfuck _fuck_!”

 

They remained in the same position for a long time, just kissing and holding each other, their chests rising and falling, rapidly.

Tony finally broke the kiss, humming contently. “You really did need this, didn’t you?” His expression managed to be caring and teasing at the same time.

Bruce laughed, quietly. “Yeah, I guess.”

Tony kissed him, again, lazily tangling their tongues, both of them breathing each other’s air.

This time it was Bruce who broke it. “I meant what I said. I do trust you.”

Tony smiled at him, knew exactly what the other man was (not yet) talking about. “I know.” He gave him a small kiss; he didn’t want drunken confessions, even if Bruce already sounded surprisingly sober. He ran a soft finger over the side of Bruce’s face.  
“We have time. You can still trust me tomorrow.”

Bruce smiled back. Yes. Yes, he would.

_TBC_


	3. Honey, I'm Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Things settle. And why the hell shouldn't they?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set less than two weeks after Who Da Man? and about a year before Lady Tremaine.  
> Flashbacks in italics. (But it’s kinda obvious.)

Batman’s dark eyes stared down an adversary who had turned out to be not half-bad at hand to hand combat and who also didn’t appear to be alone...

The man was laughing lowly. “Not so strong, now, are you, _bat_?”

Batman didn’t react visibly, but he imagined a sigh, since he couldn’t actually utter one. Damn those idiots. How did they always end up in Gotham, anyway?

He should have just stayed in California...

*

_Bruce sat in a corner booth, held his drink in a hand and watched Tony in his element, entertaining a group of women with some story or other. It was very enjoyable to watch, especially, since Bruce knew that Tony would before long leave all those girls behind and ditch the party with **him**. Because right now, Tony was his.  
After having met a mere two days earlier, with the plans of doing business – which they actually did do – wrapping up that deal a lot more up-close and personal than they had originally intended, Tony had insisted on them going out, tonight, and Pepper was the one who had to whip out a party in no time flat._

_It felt almost like a holiday to Bruce. Tony was practically forcing him to enjoy himself with someone who could understand. Understand every possible level of his life. Tony was insanely smart, funny and truly engaging with the very few people who engaged him in return. It also didn’t hurt that the man was fucking gorgeous and good in bed._

_The women either already hanging on one of Tony’s arms or trying to get closer than the others were giggling when Tony smiled widely at his punch line._

_What none of the women saw, however, was that Tony ignored them all and flickered the eyes hidden behind his sunglasses up at Bruce, his lips quirking in a more genuinely amused smile while he held his gaze._

_Bruce lifted one eyebrow and held up his glass in a toast._

_“Excuse me, ladies,” Tony said and sauntered over to where Bruce was sitting, leaving half a dozen disappointed (or annoyed, or both) faces.  
He slid into the booth next to Bruce and leaned in. “Having a good time?” A harmless question, really, if one didn’t catch his tone, which only Bruce could what with them being alone in their booth and the music playing. _

_To Bruce, the sound of Tony’s voice went down his spine and pretty much straight to his cock. “A riot.”_

_Tony smirked. “You were entertaining some ladies a minute ago, too, don’t think I didn’t see you.”_

_“It was much more interesting to watch you...”_

_“Hmm...” Tony licked his lips. “Wanna ditch this party?” he said quietly. “I have a room upstairs.”_

_“Tony, you own the hotel.”_

_“Yes, well, that only means that I have **all** the rooms upstairs.”_

_Bruce bit back a laugh. Verbal sparring was so much fun with Tony. “We should play real life Monopoly, sometime.”_

_Tony did try to hold back that laugh, too, but he couldn’t contain a snort. “As long as we play in one of my rooms...”_

_“Strip Monopoly?”_

_Tony laughed. “You win. Let’s blow this joint.”_

_“And then I could blow you.”_

_Tony stared at him for a moment then stood, decisively. “Okay, that’s it, Mr Wayne. We’re leaving.”_

_Bruce drained his drink. “And here I thought you’d never ask.”_

_The two men set to leave, side by side, catching quite a number of eyes as they did so._

_Tony led Bruce to the elevators. “I kinda like the effect we’re having together. We’re multiplying the magnetism. Nice.”_

_“You are so full of yourself. And stop multiplying.”_

_Tony waited for the elevator door to close behind them. “I’d rather be full of you, actually.”_

_Bruce squinted at him. “Are there security cameras in your elevators?”_

_“Oh, yes. And my security is very reliable.”_

_Bruce nodded, schooling his features into a slightly bored mask. “I hope the elevators are also fast, then, or I might just bang you up against this wall, security or no.”_

_“I like the way your mind works.”_

_The elevator dinged and both rushed out._

_Tony went ahead, slid his key card into the lock, pushed open the door and could only just restrain himself from grabbing Bruce and dragging him into the room.  
Not that it mattered, Bruce was right behind him... and all over him the moment the door was closed, grabbing, kissing, frantic, fast, falling, falling, falling..._

*

Batman evaded a blow and kicked the feet out from under his adversary.  
Oh, yes, he definitely should have stayed in bloody California. Two weeks already seemed like way too long a time to go without... well, the sun. Amongst other things.

The apparent ring leader of the men attacking him stepped back a little, after realising that he alone didn’t stand a chance, despite his earlier assessment and let four of his followers step forward.

Batman sometimes wondered why those people insisted on taking him on in small groups. It was strategically ridiculous. But, apparently, some people needed some ego pampering, even if those idiots didn’t get it.  
He made a short shrift out of the first four, which unfortunately made the men realise that not only their ego would take some damage if they didn’t attack all at once, now.

Batman quickly calculated the shortest way to his car, in case he needed it.

*

_“Get us to the airport, Hogan.” Tony said, sitting next to Bruce in the back of the limousine. “And, uh, don’t open the door, when we’re there. We’ll get out on our own.” His lip twitched and he closed the screen between driver and passengers.  
He turned to Bruce. “You gonna miss me?”_

_“I might.” He smiled, but he also wondered how long it would take Tony to get back to the girls swarming him all the time._

_“Don’t think you’ll get rid of me that easily.”_

_“Oh, no?” Bruce asked. “Are you going to hop over when I least expect it?”_

_Tony smirked. “I might even hop over sooner than you expect it...” He winked, then he switched his expression and looked at Bruce with wide eyes. “Do me?”_

_Bruce snorted but leaned in for a kiss, anyway. “We had sex twice, this morning...” he felt compelled to mention, kissing along Tony’s neck._

_Tony hummed, contently. “And you felt exquisite around my cock both times, darling, but I thought you should give **me** something to remember **you** by.”_

_Their drive ended soon, much too soon._

_Sticking to his orders, Happy did not open the door, but merely waited by the side of the car for the two men to exit in their own time. He did his level best not to think about what was going on behind the darkened windows, but it wasn’t like anyone could have noticed a change in his expression, either way._

_When finally Bruce Wayne did leave the car – but not without an unreadable look back inside, before closing the door – he looked slightly flushed, and Happy was by his side in a second._

_“Mr Wayne.” He nodded._

_Bruce nodded back and hesitated for a moment, even though the plane was waiting for him. “Watch out for him,” he said._

_“Of course, sir. Always.”_

_“Thank you.” Bruce nodded, again, took a deep breath and left._

_Back in the car, Happy opened the screen and asked, “Where to, sir?”_

_“Home,” was the simple answer._

_“Will you be planning a visit, soon, sir?”_

_That made Tony laugh a bit. “The world is coming to an end when Happy Hogan plays matchmaker.”_

*

The first ten or so attackers, Batman could successfully keep at bay or knock out; after that, it was slowly starting to get tricky.

Where was his car, again?

He contemplated just ramming his way towards it, when it suddenly the night flared up brightly and all fighters briefly froze in the headlights of the bat mobile.

The headset in Batman’s mask turned on.

“Hey, Batsy, keep going, I have your back.”

Bruce – and it was Bruce, not Batman – grinned and attacked the first two in his range, before the others unfroze.  
“Found the remote, have you?” Bruce said, knowing that Tony could hear him.

Tony giggled, audibly having fun.

The bat mobile’s engine roared and the car headed towards its master. It passed some attackers and opened the doors, effectively knocking out people on both sides.

Tony laughed, again. “Oh, that’s really cute, Batsy. Like playing Gameboy.”

“Glad you seem to be having fun,” Batman answered, now feeling a lot more in his element again; his enemies fell one after the other. It didn’t last long, however…

“Bats, there’s police on the screen. They’ll be at your location in a moment.”

“Just a second,” Batman insisted and tried to keep the last few from escaping.

“I _mean_ it, Batman, they’re almost there. Get in the fucking car! Who cares about some stray idiots?” The car turned away from where it had been stopping someone from leaving (and possibly breaking his leg in the process) and went back to Batman.  
“Inside, Bats, now.”

Batman tried to catch one of the men, anyway, but he managed to dodge him and ran away.

“He’s heading in the direction the police are coming from,” Tony let Batman know, effectively keeping the vigilante from running after his prey. He let the driver door swing open. “Get in, already!”

Batman narrowed his eyes. “Fine,” he grumbled.

“You don’t have to like it...” Tony added helpfully while Batman got in.

“I’ll drive,” Batman said, roughly, shutting down the remote transmitter manually. He kind of expected Tony to bitch at him for that one.

“Nice bedroom voice, honey.”

Okay, maybe no bitching. Damn. Bruce had to smile at that. “Tony, what are you doing here? I had everything under control.” His voice was at its normal pitch, now.

“I know,” Tony agreed cheerfully. “Maybe you’d have gotten some more bruises, though, and I have plans with that hot bod of yours...”

Bruce smirked. Yes, he had missed the sun of California. “How did you get into the cave, by the way? Did you break in?”

“Alfred let me in. Nice man.”

Bruce groaned.

“Also, I could have cracked that system, had I wanted to... I’m gonna have to take a look at your security.”

“My security system is fine, Tony!”

“Not for me, it isn’t.”

Bruce sighed. “Fine, alright, you can play with my computer.”

Tony chuckled, amused. “Alfred also shared an interesting piece of information...”

“Oh?” Bruce wondered if he should be worried...

*

_“Master Bruce. It is good to see you, again,” Alfred greeted Bruce when he got home._

_Bruce smiled tiredly._

_“Your vacation was relaxing I expect.”_

_Bruce nodded. “It was. It... really was.”_

_Alfred took Bruce’s bag and smiled. “That is wonderful to hear.” He led Bruce to the sitting room. “And business went well, too, I hear.”_

_“Very well, yes,” Bruce confirmed._

_“I have prepared a sandwich for you, Master Bruce.”_

_Bruce smiled thankfully and sat down in a large armchair. He rubbed his face._

_“I saw you on television with Mr Stark, shaking hands. It was very media effective.”_

_Bruce chuckled. “I bet.” They did kind of multiply magnetism as Tony called it._

_“You seemed to get along. I was worried that maybe your different styles would clash...”_

_Bruce tapped his lip with a finger, thoughtfully, and his eyes lost focus. “Did we ever...”_

_“You did not get along?” Alfred asked, confused and brought Bruce the sandwich to the small table._

_“What?” Bruce looked up, surprised that apparently there was someone with him and his thoughts in the room. “Oh, no. I mean, yes. We did get along. In fact...” he hesitated. “Mr Stark might be visiting, sometime.”_

_“Ah!” Alfred made, pleased. “It’s good to hear that you made a friend. Especially one with a similar background.”_

_Bruce chuckled. “He knew about Batman before I ever got there.”_

_Alfred looked briefly worried, but only briefly. “Your secret is safe with him, then, I take it.”_

_“Yes, I am pretty sure that it is.”_

_“Very good. I shall make sure that the bed in the guest room will be ready, just in case, then.” He nodded and was about to leave Bruce to his snack, when the other man called him back._

_“Alfred, about that...”_

_Alfred turned around._

_“When he comes...” When, not if, he assured himself. “We won’t be needing a guest bed.”_

_“Now, that, Master Bruce, is a smile I haven’t seen in a long time.”_

*

Batman drove into the cave, his eyes attached to the man sitting at his computer in the one corner that was lit from the moment he entered.

Tony turned around in his chair and smirked. Nice ride... looked even better than on TV. And... _damn_ , Batman looked hot.  
“Hey, honey. I’m home!” Tony declared when Batman finally stood next to his car, looking at his visitor.

Bruce slowly and incredulously shook his head. Then he took off his cowl.

Tony blinked. That looked kind of weird. The dark knight and Bruce all rolled into one delicious package.

“You’re early,” Bruce said. There was a planned meeting of Tony Stark at Wayne Enterprises, the following week, and Bruce had pretty much been looking forward to it from the moment he had set foot on that plane back to Gotham. Not that he would actually say that out loud.

Tony stood and walked closer to Bruce. “What can I say? I missed you.”

Well, maybe Bruce could concede just a little... He dropped his mask, took the final steps to Tony and pulled him into a kiss.

Tony answered with everything he had, which was a lot more than he had previously told himself he would allow when he finally had that man back in his arms.  
When Bruce mumbled an “It’s good to see you” against his lips, the spark those simple words caused would have freaked him the fuck out had they not felt so damn good.  
The relentless material of Bruce’s suit felt unfamiliar under his fingers, but he kept discovering it, anyway, pulling the other man closer.

“You two gentlemen make for a very interesting picture.”

Despite their internalised caution, Tony and Bruce apparently felt safe enough to not startle and ended the kiss slowly, before turning around to see a very pleased looking Alfred.

“You could make an absolutely ridiculous fortune with that picture,” Tony agreed.

Bruce snorted. “Think we could get away with telling the press that I just like to role-play?”

Tony snickered. “I missed your sense of humour, too, cupcake.”

Bruce smirked, gave him another small kiss and went to take off his suit, starting with his gloves.

Tony watched him for a moment, smiling appreciatively, before turning back to Alfred. “Alfred, my man, I am very pleased to find him in the state I let him go.”

Alfred chuckled. “I assure you, I was even more pleased to _not_ get him back in the state I let him go to California, Master Anthony.”

Tony froze for a moment at the implication that Bruce was maybe actually happier than he was before, then he smiled more. “Please don’t call me that,” he said, anyway.

“No use; trust me on that,” Bruce said from the other side of the room where he hung Batman’s torso.

“Indeed,” Alfred confirmed. “Would the gentlemen like something to eat after their adventure?”

Tony made a grand gesture with his hand. “I think the gentlemen will retire.” He turned his head to yell over his shoulder: “Right, Bruce?” He caught a glimpse of Bruce taking off the suit’s pants and turned around fully to enjoy Bruce revealing his body in nothing but tight black shorts.

“Sounds like a plan. I already had dinner.”

“Definitely a plan...”

Bruce smirked, but also rolled his eyes and snatched a bathrobe from a hook behind the case for the suit.

“I take it you will require a late breakfast, then,” Alfred noted.

“That depends,” Bruce said in a chatty tone, following Alfred out of the cave and guiding Tony with a warm hand on the small of his back. “Tony sometimes has the tendency to play around in his shop from the wee hours of the morning, and he already said that he wants to work on the security system.”

“You’ll just have to keep me busy, then.” Tony grinned. He had already noticed that he slept a lot better and surprisingly long with Bruce there with him. It was weird how fast he had gotten used to that, and it was even more annoying to realise that he missed it after only a week of having it.

 

They bid the butler goodnight, and Bruce led Tony to the master bedroom.

“Nice,” Tony commented. “Old fashioned, but nice.”

“Yes, well. Family mansion and all that. It felt right to rebuild it.”

Tony ran a finger over the expensive wood of a bedpost. “I completely broke with my family tradition, so I wouldn’t know.”

Bruce looked up, surprised at the change of mood. “Tony...”

Tony shook his head and smiled. “Just old stories. Doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does,” Bruce insisted and came to stand next to Tony. “See, I don’t think you broke with it. You just added another angle.”

“Not sure you knew my father that well.”

“Did you?”

Tony fell silent. No, he didn’t. He hardly remembered the man.

“War is a dark business, Tony. Your father did what he thought was the right thing. And so do you.”

Tony sighed. “I do like to think so. When I think about it at all.”

“My father was a pacifist,” Bruce added unexpectedly.

Tony pulled a face. “And his son a vigilante. Yikes.”

Bruce snorted. “You have such a way with words.”

“He’d be proud of you,” Tony said in an uncharacteristically serious voice, and before Bruce could tell him how wrong he was – and Bruce was about to, it was clearly visible in his expression – Tony added: “He might not have agreed with you, but he’d be proud.”

Bruce felt a heavy lump in his throat. Here he was, trying to support Tony, and Tony was turning the game around, supporting him. And they were both saying the same thing. They both _knew_.  
“Now you understand.”  
And before either of them could say something stupid, Bruce pulled Tony into a deep kiss, making no mistake about the fact that they were done talking about their pasts and their decisions. The only decision remaining was, _‘I want you.’_ A want that was so much deeper than the mere physical they allowed themselves.

Tony only just managed to constrain the sob that threatened to escape his throat and it came out as a huffed moan against Bruce’s lips.  
He didn’t waste any time untying Bruce’s robe and letting it slip over his shoulders, since Bruce had been teasing him in those damn shorts, before. His hands ran over the warm skin and strong muscles. It definitely had its perks to get it on with a superhero. Damn.

Since Tony was ahead of him, clothing-wise, Bruce did his best to keep up. Tony’s t-shirt had to go, first, and no matter how often he saw the arc reactor being revealed, it still awed him.  
He pulled Tony closer again, felling the cold metal and the heated skin against his. He was momentarily distracted by the sensations that he only noticed that Tony had relieved him of his shorts when they fell around his ankles. He stepped out of them and started working on Tony’s jeans.

Having one’s jeans opened and pushed down kind of restricted movement, and Tony didn’t feel like being restricted, just then. He was much too impatient; even more than usual. He got rid of his jeans, underwear, shoes and socks in what seemed almost like one fluent motion and directed Bruce back to the bed, pushing him down.

Bruce let himself being laid down, but he refused to let Tony go and pulled him with him.

Tony was about to straddle Bruce, but apparently, Bruce had other plans and spread his legs to accommodate Tony in between. Tony didn’t complain, and neither did he complain about the deep, probing kiss he was pulled into.

Bruce broke the kiss for a moment. “It’s your turn.” He smirked.

Tony cocked his head in mock contemplation and had to agree. “Indeed it is.” He bent down to lick Bruce’s lips. “I think you’re just lazy.”

“I already had my workout, tonight,” he said making Tony snicker. “Besides, having you ride me wouldn’t make me any less lazy, anyway.”

Tony liked the more humorous aspect of their relationship as much as Bruce did, but right now, he was more in the mood for hot, steamy, fuck- _yes_ than humour.  
He shoved his tongue into Bruce’s mouth, using his weight to pin the other man into the mattress, creating as much body contact as he could. “How do you want it, then?” he gasped.

Bruce’s body undulated; he feeling every inch of skin granted to him. But, God, this felt good. “I want it...” he lifted his head for a small kiss and nipped the lips in parting, “... hard, deep and...” he moved again, “... slow.” He moaned at Tony moving his hips down. “I want to savour this.”

“So you’re not too tired to let me do some work, are you?”

“Have I ever been?”

“Point.”

“And neither have you, I might add.”

Tony leaned down for another deep kiss. “Less talking, more fucking.” If Bruce wanted the full program, he’d get the full program.  
“Anything useful in the bedside drawer?”

“Uh... massage oil, I think. Maybe condoms, but I’m not positive on that one.”

Tony climbed off his lover and went to have a look. He found the massage oil and had to smirk at what he found besides that. “I think your butler is as subtle as a ton of bricks.”

Bruce first paused, then laughed. “Don’t tell me he stocked up.”

“Well... I won’t be needing any flavoured ones for what I have in mind, so I’ll go for ribbed.”

The small laugh from before now became a hearty loud one. “I don’t even... no. I don’t want to think about that.”

“He’s just being assiduous.” He crawled back and put the box of condoms on the pillow next to Bruce’s head. “On your stomach, darling. We have to make sure you relax properly after your workout.” He was already warming some massage oil between his hands.

Bruce complied, immediately. “I’m not going to complain about that. You’re terribly good at massages.”

“Why, thank you, darling.” He sat down on Bruce’s ass and went to work, starting with the shoulders.

Bruce hummed, contently. “Oh, yes. Ohmmm.”

“Not all that tense, after all. Good.” Not that he cared; he liked getting his hands on the man way too much.  
He worked his way down the back, slowly, over the ass, then taking care of both legs.

Bruce pretty much melted into a puddle of goo, and if the massage hadn’t electrified his senses as much as it relaxed, he would probably have fallen asleep. As it was, he just enjoyed the ministrations.

Tony massaged back up, right to the neck and then back down, again, out of sheer pleasure he got from Bruce’s appreciative sounds and small movements, as well as the tactile sensations.  
But once he got back to the ass on his way down, he decided that it was time to get to the next step of the foreplay.  
He kneaded both globes with his hands, moving them apart so slowly that Bruce at first didn’t even realise that Tony was taking the massage one step further.

Bruce gasped, his eyes wide, when he could feel the first touch of tongue dipping in between. “Tony...”

“Sorry, can’t talk right now.”

Bruce laughed, breathily. “So good... I...” The tongue breached him and he decided that speech was not needed for him, either. He moaned into his pillow.

Tony was quite satisfied to notice that Bruce opened up wonderfully to him. This wouldn’t take long, anymore; which he didn’t mind, at all; he was so hard it hurt, by now.  
To move things along, he reached for more oil and replaced his tongue with two fingers. He added a third without a problem, right away. So ready...  
“You requested deep, correct?” he asked smugly, moving his fingers especially deep, accordingly.

“That would... that would be... yeah.”

Tony pulled out his fingers and leaned over Bruce to kiss the back of his neck. “I’ll need you to turn back around, then.”

Bruce complied, readily, smirking at Tony’s appreciative look directed at his dick. “You have magic hands,” he felt compelled to explain.

“Mhm,” Tony agreed and lifted both of Bruce’s legs up on his shoulders while kneeling in front of him. The condom had already been set in place while Bruce was turning around, so Tony manoeuvred himself into position.  
“Let’s see how well we can do _deep_ like this.” With that, he pushed inside, slowly.

Bruce arched his head back and uttered a drawn-out moan.

Tony didn’t pause, didn’t hesitate until he was seated fully inside Bruce, a frown of concentration on his face.  
“And slow, am I remembering this right?”

Bruce only just managed to nod, looking at Tony with a blissful expression. “You’re...” he gasped when Tony slowly pulled back, “... gorgeous,” and added, “Ah! Yes!” when Tony pushed back inside. “Just like that.”

For all the relaxation, Bruce was still deliciously tight, and Tony established a savouring rhythm, keeping his eyes firmly on the other man’s face.  
_‘Admit it, Stark. You’re done for.’_ And if he wasn’t careful, he’d blurt out something he didn’t want to, before long. Better have this pesky little detail out of the way, soon, if he didn’t want it to take him by surprise when he had no control over it.  
“Hard was your last request, yes?”

Bruce nodded, shakily, and was about to reach for his aching dick, when Tony smacked his hand away.

“You’re supposed to be lazy, and I’m supposed to take care of you.” With that, he reached for it, himself, pumping it in time with his thrusts.

Bruce squeezed his eyes shut for a second and breathed harder. “That’s... it. You’re doing it! I...”

“You done with slow?” Because he certainly was, by now.

“Yes!”

“Good,” Tony growled, pulled out a bit and rammed back in.

“AH! Yes! _Fuck_!”

It didn’t take Tony long to want, _need_ to kiss Bruce. He leaned down, never slowing his thrusts and nearly folded Bruce in half when he finally got to moan into a breathless and heady kiss.

Bruce grabbed Tony’s head with both hands, making sure he didn’t go anywhere. His moans became desperate within moments. Tony filled him perfectly, fit inside him perfectly, just all around felt all shades of right, and it drove him to wonderful madness.  
_‘I **missed** you,’_ his body told Tony.

Tony felt Bruce come against his hand before he heard the man yell in his completion, which was also when he reached the end of his restraint and followed him.  
He collapsed on his lover, his face nestled securely in the crook of Bruce’s neck, both of them breathing heavily and trembling in their afterglow.

They rested like that for a moment, Bruce running a lazy finger over Tony’s back, until he shifted and now definitely felt every single muscle in his legs.

Tony moved with him. “Sorry. Just a… second.” He pulled out, making sure he got a hold of the condom, and then moved his arms down enough that Bruce could get his legs off Tony’s shoulders and let them slump onto the mattress.

They both laughed, breathlessly, and Tony settled on top of Bruce, again.

“Much better,” Tony noted and kissed a random patch of skin that happened to be by his lips.

Bruce hummed in agreement and played with some sweaty strands on Tony’s head. The hair wasn’t the only thing about them that was sweaty and sticky, but he couldn’t really make himself care at that moment.  
“I missed you,” he finally said out loud.

Tony grinned against Bruce’s skin and lifted his head to smile at him visibly. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Bruce snorted and shook his head. “You are…”

Tony shut him up with a kiss. When he ended it after a long moment, he said: “I guess I am.”

Bruce smiled benignly, clearly amused. “And what are you?” He lifted an eyebrow.

“Here with you,” he answered playfully.

“Right…” Bruce’s grin grew wider and his eyes sparkled.

“And…” Tony theatrically pondered that. “And I’m here early.”

“That you are.” He pulled Tony into a kiss, laughing.

Tony decided that Bruce was probably mellow enough to not freak out at a little confession in a more or less controlled environment. Or maybe he wouldn’t freak out _too much_.  
He moved his lips over the other’s, just playing, nipping, enjoying… and carefully avoiding looking into unusually warm hazel eyes.  
He kissed his lips. “I guess then I could also tell you that…” another kiss, “… that I could fall madly in love with you given another couple of days of this.”

Bruce’s hand on the back of Tony’s head froze for a moment, and then took up the gentle petting, again. “I guess you could,” he said, cautiously.

“But then again, I don’t like to lie, and we both know that it doesn’t take the extra time, anymore.” He made sure that he rushed that out in one piece, just so that there would be no misunderstandings, even for a second, if he could avoid it.

The hand stopped its movement, entirely, this time.

Tony sighed and lifted his head to look at Bruce, who appeared uncertain and maybe a bit shell-shocked. Tony tilted his head. “You want me to say it?” That was a bold move, in his not so humble opinion.

“Tell me,” Bruce answered immediately.

“Are you sure? I can’t take it back once it’s out.” His lip twitched a bit at that.

Bruce actually thought about that for a while, just studying Tony while he did so. “Tell-“

“I love you.”

When was the last time that someone said that to Bruce, and he believed it? He didn’t remember. He probably did at least think that he believed a declaration or two, but now he realised that there had always been some small-print added in his head. There was the money issue, the fame, his reputation, even his very name. Then there could be enemies who might want to get close to him because of his secret identity. Never mind the little fact that the very same secret identity would not be received well by any prospect who by some miracle didn’t care about the perks of dating Bruce Wayne. Like with… but better not think about that.  
Tony wouldn’t care for any of those things. He had the money, the fame, the reputation and the name, himself. His second identity might not have been secret, but it was there, nonetheless.  
All Tony wanted was companionship. _His_ companionship.

“You’re not freaking out on me, are you?” Tony finally asked after having been subjected to Bruce’s intent stare. Granted, the stare didn’t look like a freak-out, it even looked kind of sanguine, but still...

Bruce calmly shook his head. “No,” he said, quietly.

“Well, good. After all, you’re an hour behind me. You only just got to the _‘I missed you’_ , before, and...”

Bruce laughed, rolled both of them around, towered over Tony and kissed him mid-sentence. When he broke it, he still felt disturbingly jittery but happy, and he didn’t really know what to do with those feelings, so he decided to just be with Tony the way he had learned to be with him: with words that fit like puzzle pieces. Saying things without having to say them.  
“I really hope to be asleep in an hour, to be honest,” he said, regretfully. “Do you take a rain-check, or would you like to have the declaration moved forward?”

“I’d rather have it postponed, really,” Tony admitted, honestly. “Just because I wanted to get it out before it does on its own and most likely in an inappropriate situation, that doesn’t mean that you have to keep up or something.”

“That’s horribly generous of you,” Bruce said, sarcastically.

Tony sighed, loudly. “I know,” he allowed, grandly.

“I love you.”

Despite Tony’s blasé air about the whole subject – admittedly, it was a fake blasé, but the judges decided to allow it, anyway, because he was Tony fucking Stark, dammit – he was almost sure his heart skipped a beat. Maybe. Just a bit.

“Yeah, you totally wouldn’t have minded postponing that...” Bruce was very clearly amused, but also more than a little relieved that he had managed to get that out and it actually felt _good_.

“You’re an asshole, Wayne, just so you know.”

Bruce laughed at him, before kissing him, again.

And Tony came to the conclusion that it wasn’t so bad to love an asshole, at all.

*

Tony woke at around five in the morning, which was when he usually woke up, but other than most other days, he didn’t feel like actually getting up. Sure, there was the bat cave including a security system to play with calling and all that, and he did for a long moment consider answering the twitch in his hand and just go down there and _do_ something, but that was not what he did.  
What he did do was take one look at the sleeping man next to him, smile, curl up around him and fall asleep, again. Especially the last point would have surprised him, but seeing as he was asleep, it didn’t.

 

When he woke the second time, it was because some bright light was blinding him. He squinted and heard Bruce groan at the same time.

“I am terribly sorry,” Alfred said, not sounding sorry at all, pulling open the second curtain, “but since there apparently was no early morning tinkering in the basement, I saw myself forced to wake you up personally. It is almost noon, and you have a meeting at two, Master Bruce.”

“Yeah, okay,” Bruce mumbled.

“I have prepared a brunch, and you might want to look at the news,” that second part was added, hesitantly. The news were never a good way to start the day, even when – or sometimes especially _if_ \- Batman was successful the day before.

“Thanks, Alfred.”

Alfred left, and the men in the bed blinked at each other. Bruce seemed particularly pleased to having woken with Tony in his arms and his head on his shoulder and not on the other side of the bed. They both had the tendency to sleep all over, and they never knew just where they would wake up.

“You know,” Tony said, “Pepper never comes into the bedroom.”

“Well, you have Jarvis who can do the breaking and entering for her.”

Tony chuckled and kissed Bruce’s chest. Then he lifted his head, smiling at the other man. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Bruce cupped Tony’s cheek and pulled him into a slow and passionate kiss.

“Still no freak-out?” Tony asked after it ended, giving into the undeniable impulse to rub his nose against Bruce’s and looking into his eyes.

Bruce shrugged. “I’m a big boy, I can handle it.” He got a snicker and a kiss for that.

“A big boy who takes out bad guys by the dozen.” Tony smirked. “I like it.”

Bruce smirked back, then his expression froze. “Oh, news.” He rolled to his side, reached for the remote on the bedside table and turned on the large screen opposite the bed.

Tony watched Bruce be immersed in the shady security camera images on the latest news about the city’s very own hero, and decided he might as well get up, since there would obviously be no more fun time, this morning.  
“Where do you think Alfred put my suitcase?”

Bruce still looked at the screen. “He probably unpacked it. Try the cupboard.”

And indeed Tony did find his clothes in the cupboard. “You gonna join me in the shower?”

Bruce still didn’t react, visibly. “I’m gonna shower after brunch and just get dressed then.”

Tony sighed. Bruce obviously was quite dense when the bat came between them. He watched Bruce’s dark expression for a while, then the screen. “Looks like you had fun,” he noted. The shadowy character on the screen that was obviously Batman appeared to be taking out several other shadowy characters. It was kind of hard to tell, what with it being dark and there only being two images per second.

This got him Bruce’s attention. “I wouldn’t exactly call that _fun_ , Tony.”

Oh, dear. That was definitely Batman sitting naked in Bruce’s bed, Tony concluded, regretfully. “Bruce…” he started, walking towards him, “whoever said doing the right thing can’t be fun?”

Bruce averted his eyes and stared at the news, again. He obviously wasn’t in the mood for any of Tony’s cheerful insights.

So much for the nice morning. Tony saw some yearbook image of a school boy on the screen that was labelled as one of the attackers, some years earlier.  
“You can’t save everyone, Bruce. He made his choice. He might still change that direction, but as of right now, there is nothing you can do,” he insisted rationally.

That made Bruce to look up. The words made sense, but that didn’t mean he had to accept or even like them.  
On the other hand, looking up had the side-effect of seeing his lover stand there – naked – with compassionate brown eyes and…  
Bruce sighed.

“Don’t punish yourself over the bad guys. You’re not Jesus.” Tony rolled his eyes at the last part. “You’re a superhero,” he added as an afterthought, smiling crookedly.

Bruce snorted. He didn’t really know how Tony did it, again and again. All the man had to do was say something completely out of left field and more often than not also completely out of line and… Bruce just got pulled in.  
“They did make a comic book out of the life of Jesus, you know…” he said, randomly.

Tony pulled a face. “Please, tell me you’re kidding. That’s just sick.”

“’Fraid not.” But his reaction to seeing that one had been about the same as Tony’s.

“We’d make a much better comic book, don’t you think?” The crooked smile became a more genuinely amused one, and Tony sat back down on the bed. “Much more flashy, and infinitely better dressed.”

Against his better judgement, it made Bruce laugh a bit. “Would you put what we did last night into your comic book?”

“Absolutely,” Tony confirmed, right away. “That could be the centrefold.”

And with that, the last shadow dissolved for the time being, as Bruce burst out laughing.

*

Tony was typing away on Batman’s dinosaur of a computer as he called it and was now apparently finally used to a traditional keyboard, again.  
He watched the calculations and absently drank his coffee.

“Afternoon snack, Master Anthony?”

Tony looked up. “I ate more than enough of your brunch.” He turned back to the screen.

“Perhaps afternoon is saying a bit much. It is almost six.”

Tony blinked and peeked at his watch. “Might as well wait for Bruce. He’s still stuck in that meeting of his, then?” He leaned back in his seat and stretched, hearing some joints audibly crack. He groaned, relieved.

“You are quite taken with your work,” Alfred noted.

“Keeps my mind busy.” One of the programs finished calculating and Tony nodded, satisfied with the result.  
“Say, Alfred. Do you think he’ll let me get him a real computer in here? This one’s a bitch to work with.”

Alfred replaced Tony’s empty cup with a full one, without the other man even noticing. “I am sure you have methods to convince him.”

“Do I ever,” Tony agreed and reached for his coffee. He frowned when the beverage was actually hot and fresh, again and smiled. “You are worth your weight in gold.” He lifted his cup in a toast to a pleased looking Alfred.

“I will prepare dinner, then. It won’t be long, now.”

 

Bruce entered through the garage and was greeted by Alfred who came from the cave at the same time.

“Good evening, Master Bruce.”

“Good evening, Alfred.”

Alfred took in the actually quite content expression on the younger man’s face. “It went well?”

“Yes, quite.” He handed Alfred his jacket. “Nothing out of the ordinary, really.”

Alfred nodded, understanding. “But it is nice to come home to someone who is waiting for you, perhaps?”

Bruce smiled ruefully. “Am I that easy to read?”

“Yes,” came the immediate and frank answer.

Bruce chuckled. He pointed at the empty cup Alfred was still holding. “He’s still at it?”

“Indeed,” Alfred confirmed. “Might I also suggest that maybe an upgrade of hardware is advisable? It would ease Master Anthony’s work that he seems to enjoy so much.”

“Subtle,” Bruce said, dryly.

Alfred decided to change his approach. “Sir, I believe as much as it would please him to _play_ with his toys, it would also reassure him to know that your system is up to his standards, which are, quite frankly, as advanced as they could get.”

Bruce thought about that and had to admit that Alfred had a point. He’d have been the same, had the roles been reversed. “I guess it would also ease communication between Gotham and Malibu.” He raised an eyebrow.

“Undoubtedly.” Alfred smiled, and Bruce smiled back. “Dinner in one hour, Sir?”

“Yes, thank you. Oh, and Lucius will be joining us.”

“Very good, Sir.”

Bruce headed towards the cave and felt quite good with his day. After the news in the morning and the meeting that was more tedious than anything, that would not have been the case two weeks ago. Maybe Tony was right with that he just needed to _‘live a little’_. Living didn’t have to keep him from doing what he felt was right, after all.

He didn’t really know where their relationship would lead them, or what kind of problems they’d encounter – and he was pretty sure that there would be numerous of those – but he dared to be at least a little optimistic that... they could manage.

Bruce walked down the steps and watched Tony’s fingers fly over the keyboard. Tony truly was a joy to watch while engrossed in something that captivated him. He would be even more of a joy to watch with a personalised Stark computer...  
Bruce grinned. “Hey, honey. I’m home.”

Tony’s face immediately lit up and he turned around. “Hey, sunshine! How was your day at work?” Mischief radiated off him in waves, despite him being obviously tired.

Bruce walked closer and Tony got a not-at-all-domestic cave kiss.

They might have been as far from conventional as you could possibly be without actually being an alien or something, but it worked for them.

Because, well, why the hell not?

 

_TBC_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With those “first time I-love-yous" it’s always a bit tricky to not make it too sappy, but I think this works fine :)
> 
> Butterfly and top!Tony for incuchiq7prb (LJ) ;)


	4. Lady Tremaine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dick Grayson learns a few things about family.

Dick Grayson sat quietly next to the large bed in the dim room and worriedly shifted in his seat, tapped his lips with a nervous finger and watched as Lucius Fox ran a scanner over the unconscious man lying under the covers.

Two months since he had found a new home in this house. And something he had almost considered to call family, until tonight.  
Now, he was begging that he would get the time to see the eyes open, again and tell the man that he did want to stay, that he wanted to find family, again.

His eyes flickered to Lucius’ when the other man straightened from scanning.

Lucius smiled warmly at the young man. “Don’t look so worried.” He turned off the device. “No fracture or splintering or nerve damage in the shoulder. Just two broken ribs and three cracked.”

Dick released the breath he had been holding. Still, he eyed the scanner, sceptically. “You sure that thing is reliable? Shouldn’t he be in hospital?”

Lucius just smiled benignly. “As I’m sure you’re aware of by now, he avoids hospitals whenever possible. He can’t have anyone make connections between his injuries and... other things.”

Yes, Dick was well aware. He had seen it, tonight. And if he hadn’t been there in time… “He shouldn’t do things like that on his own,” he mumbled.

Lucius huffed, amused and went to wrap Bruce’s ribs. “You’re not the first and very likely not the last to say this.”

Dick quirked his lips. “It’s a miracle he let you dope him up.”

“I’ve learned that it’s all a matter of timing with him…” Lucius chuckled.

Dick snorted. “That was clever,” he admitted.

The door opened and Alfred came in, joining the other two men and looking relieved.

“Did you manage to reach him?” Lucius asked, right away.

Alfred nodded. “He said he had been watching the news and is already at the front gates, as he put it.”

“Good,” said Lucius, just as Dick frowned and asked, “Who?”

Lucius looked up from bandaging Bruce and turned to Alfred. “He hasn’t been told, yet?”

Alfred cleared his throat. “Apparently, Master Bruce was of the opinion that Master Dick should be informed with all parties present.”

“What parties?” Dick wanted to know. He didn’t like being left in the dark. Especially now that he knew that there were several dark corners in Bruce’s life, already.

Alfred sighed. “Did Master Bruce ever mention… a certain someone in his life?”

Dick shrugged. “He mentioned a girlfriend, once. One from out of town.”

Lucius finished the bandage and straightened. “I kind of doubt that those were his exact words.” His little smile was back in place.

Alfred cleared his throat and inconspicuously changed the topic. “How is Master Bruce doing?” he quickly asked Lucius.

Dick rolled his eyes and let the other two men talk. It was obvious that they wouldn’t answer his question. And if Bruce wanted to wait to tell him about some woman, that was his business. It couldn’t be all that interesting, anyway.  
He kept his eyes on Bruce who for all the world looked like he was sleeping peacefully and wasn’t doped up on painkillers that Lucius had managed to talk him into in a weak moment.

 

It was quiet in the room apart from the two men murmuring, so Dick heard the little click of the door opening, right away and turned his head, and… his eyes widened. That was... No way. No way in hell was Tony Stark just wandering into the bedroom of Bruce Wayne. No. Way.  
“Oh, my God,” escaped him, before he could stop it.

The man who had entered briefly looked at him, then turned to the two tending to Bruce. “Lucius, Alfred,” he nodded at both men in greeting. “How is he?” He himself looked out of breath, maybe a bit frazzled and definitely worried, shaking Alfred’s hand.

Lucius stood, immediately and held out his hand, as well. “Tony.”

Dick’s eyes wandered from one of the men to the others and back, again, putting the words from before into the right place and slowly, piece by piece, the puzzle made sense. He refrained from saying _‘Oh, my God’_ , again.  
So much for the girlfriend.  
Dick listened to Lucius explain, once again, what the situation was, and that Bruce would be fine.

Tony took a hold of the scanner that Lucius had used and nodded. “How the hell did you get him to take the painkiller for a dislocated shoulder and broken ribs? Much less enough to knock him out?” He sounded impressed, and he most certainly approved of the medication.

Dick stood and decided to pipe up, too. He didn’t feel like being a bystander. After all, he was the one who had gotten Bruce out of this one.  
“We waited with asking until after we set the shoulder. Like, _right_ after.”

Tony turned to him. Yes, he was most certainly tired, but he smirked at that and his eyes twinkled. “Smart move.”

Dick remained still and returned the assessing look, calmly. For a second, he wondered which of the two of them was the intruder.  
Tony didn’t belong in Gotham, and Dick was only just invited into this house, two months ago. Two months, during which Bruce had left for a couple of days, twice, assumingly visiting his… lover.  
Dick wondered if he ever really would belong.

Finally, Tony broke the silence. “I hear you saved his hide, today.”

Dick swallowed. “He would have gotten out,” he said, quickly. “But with worse injuries,” he couldn’t help but add with a smug little smile.

Tony returned the smile, tiredly. “Kid, do me a favour,” he started, looking serious. “If he’s ever in over his head but too stubborn to realise it, tell me?” He held Dick’s eyes firmly with his own. “Please?”

Dick felt weirdly honoured that he was asked for that favour. “I will.”  
Then he remembered something and like before eyed the scanner in Tony’s hand. Now that he knew what to look for, he recognised the Stark Industries logo on it. “Do you trust your little trinket?”

Tony raised an eyebrow and looked at his scanner and then back at Dick. “You mean, do I trust my little trinket with his life and health?”

Dick nodded.

“Yes, I do.”

For a second or two, Dick hesitated. Then he nodded. “Good enough for me.”

That seemed to satisfy both men, while the other two watched them with almost fatherly pride... and perhaps more than a tad relief.

 

“Tony…?” The tired and hoarse voice got everyone’s attention in the quiet and sombre room.

Tony was at the bedside, right away, gingerly sitting down. He took the uninjured left hand in his. “Hey.”

Tired eyes with dilated pupils tried to focus on the man leaning closer. Bruce managed a half-smile. “Not so much fun from that side of the fence, is it?” he mumbled.

Tony huffed and leaned in for a soft kiss.

Dick averted his eyes. That was not something he wanted to see, even if he didn’t really mind seeing Bruce Wayne relax enough to smile at someone so… well… lovingly.  
Bruce’s comment also explained why the man had disappeared very suddenly, that one time. There had been something on the news about an incident with the Iron Man and some explosives, Dick now remembered.

Dick peeked to see if it was safe to look, again. Tony was brushing a finger over Bruce’s forehead, just looking at him. Tony didn’t appear like someone who had almost been blown to kingdom come, a mere two weeks earlier.

Bruce turned his head and looked at Dick, blinking slowly. “Thank you.” With that, he closed his eyes and fell asleep, again.

“Oh, man,” Tony commented and smirked at Dick. “He’s so out of it. Or you’d have gotten the lecture about how the situation was under control and you should have stayed the hell away.”

Dick snorted. “Yeah, right.”

Tony chuckled. He wouldn’t be surprised if the young man still got that lecture, tomorrow.

Alfred cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should let Master Bruce rest, now.”

Lucius already picked up his coat and Dick nodded.

Tony on the other hand sent Alfred a dark look from where he still sat on the bed. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“And I wouldn’t have suggested anything of the likes, Master Anthony.” He put the scanner on the bedside table and smiled at Tony. “It is my experience that his sleep is more restful in your calming presence.”

That made Dick snort and Tony smile ruefully. If there was one thing he was not, it was a _‘calming presence’_. But it seemed to work on Bruce, anyway.

Lucius leaned closer to Tony. “I’ll check in on him, tomorrow. Just to make sure.”

Tony pulled a face. “He’s not going to be happy that everyone’s making a fuss over his shoulder and ribs.” He rolled his eyes. “As soon as he’s clear in the head, he’ll nag me for flying over for nothing.”

“That may be,” Lucius agreed. “But I remember the look on his face a minute ago when he saw you with his guard down.”

“Yeah…” Tony agreed, amused. “Grumpy bugger is worth it.”

Lucius patted him on the shoulder and left. And, apparently happy with how things were turning out, Alfred ushered Dick out of the room.

The young man turned for one last glimpse into the room and saw Tony taking off his shoes and heard him murmur something, lowly, for the sleeping man alone.  
“So,” he said to Alfred when the door was closed. “Two superheroes under one roof, huh?”

“I think tonight, young Master Grayson, it is three.”

Dick smiled widely. That sounded nice. He could get used to that.

*

The next morning, Dick sneaked _‘downstairs’_. He of course already knew what he’d find there, and after the night before, nobody would stop him from going to the cave, anymore. He knew that.  
Still, it didn’t stop him from sneaking.

Dick also knew that today, there would be something down there that hadn’t been there one day earlier.

The lights came on when he went down the steps, and he saw it, right away. Standing in the corner in its own booth, as if it had always had a spot there.  
It was disassembled, but the parts were attached in a way that it was obvious what it was.

Dick slowly inched closer with wide eyes. He reached out a hand and ran it over the cold red and gold metal

“Wow,” he breathed.

 

It took him a while before he stopped staring and went back upstairs to find Alfred in the kitchen. He never did have the time to get used to being waited on, never mind in a dining room or the likes. He much preferred the more personal setting, there.

The older man looked up, his small knowing smile in place, again. “It is quite impressive, isn’t it?”

Dick nodded. “I wonder what it would be like to fly that thing.”

Alfred smirked at him, handing him a coffee. “You might want to get used to the idea of having him around before you ask him to fly his suit, young Master.”

Dick snorted. “Like he’d let me.”

“It is probably a bit early…” Alfred agreed.

Dick smiled, then frowned. “There’s something weird about the suit though.”

“Oh?” Alfred busied himself making breakfast.

“I read a bit about arc reactor technology. Nothing much, just the basics…” He frowned more. “And I thought the suit was being powered by one. At least it looked like it on all the pictures on the news. But down there... there wasn’t one in the suit.”

“Ah…” Alfred said, seeing where this was going.

“That’s because it’s right here,” said Tony behind them, standing in the doorway. Other than the night before, he was only wearing jeans and a t-shirt, whereas the last time Dick saw him, he’d had a sweater over the shirt.

Dick stared at the blue-ish glow through the thin white shirt. “I guess with a ride like that, it’s safer to keep the car keys with you,” he blurted out.

Tony grinned. “Especially since I hear you like to hitch a ride when the keys are in it.” He raised an eyebrow.

“The bat mobile doesn’t have keys.”

Tony laughed and sat down at the table. “Can I get one of those?” he asked Alfred, pointing at the coffee.

“In a moment, Master Anthony.”

Tony groaned. “It won’t change a thing if I keep telling you to stop calling me that, will it?”

Alfred just smiled at him.

This made Dick laugh. It looked like Tony would be fun to have around the house. It wasn’t like there was no darkness surrounding Tony Stark – because there obviously was – but it was a different shade, and Tony was a more light person. If there was no light, he made it. Inserted straight into his chest if he had to.  
“How is Bruce?” he asked after a moment.

Tony accepted the cup he received from Alfred. “Your daddy’s still asleep.”

Dick rolled his eyes and then looked away. “He’s not my dad.”

“But he offered, right?” Tony went on.

Dick peeked up at him from a downturned face.

“I know he did. I was gonna come over this weekend, and he would have done the proper introduction and all that shit.”

Dick’s jaw set. “Just because he offered for me to stay here that doesn’t mean…”

“He offered an adoption, kid, not a room for rent.”

Dick still looked at him darkly. “Still doesn’t make him my dad.” His dad had just died, for fuck’s sake!

Tony immediately understood and back-tracked. Even if just a little. “Relax. I’m just teasing you.” He smirked. “I get to do that, since I’m gonna be your evil stepmother.”

The laugh burst out of Dick before he could stop it. “Got the ring ready and everything?”

Tony smirked. “Maybe…”

“Then you wouldn’t tell me just like that.”

Tony chuckled and sipped his coffee. “Smart boy.”

If Dick was being honest with himself (and possibly other people present), he had never really thought about accepting the offer. It had sounded like an act of charity. And he didn’t _do_ charity. He was raised to being able to take care of himself.  
Then again, he was also raised as a part of a family, and maybe, just maybe, Bruce was able to give him that again.  
“Do you think… I would have to take his name?” he asked, his voice sounding small.

“Naw.” Tony waved him off. “The Wayne family is more than a name.” He looked up and grinned widely at Alfred. “Isn’t that right?”

He received a smile in return. “Absolutely, Master Anthony.”

“Besides,” Tony turned back to Dick, “you already have a perfectly fine name, don’t you?”

Dick smiled. He _liked_ this guy.

*

Bruce woke up, turned to his side and immediately wished he hadn’t. His right side hurt like crazy, from the ribs to the shoulder.  
That he had woken more or less painlessly suggested that a) there was still quite some painkiller in his system and b) he had gotten enough rest. A lot more rest than he would have allowed himself, had certain people not decided to take that choice from him.

He vaguely remembered waking up to beloved dark eyes and a worried expression, and had he not been oh so very happy the moment he saw him, he’d have hit himself for allowing the weakness while knowing damn well what an attachment like that could do to a person. But seeing as he _did_ remember, all he could do, really, was concede properly and just accept the facts.  
He smiled ruefully.

He fought his way out of bed, slowly, careful not to jar his shoulder that was neatly strapped close to his wrapped chest. He put on a bathrobe over his sweat-pants, only slipping his left arm in and made his way downstairs.

It was quiet, and he only heard voices when he passed by the library. He walked closer and listened through the half-open door.

“You do that,” Tony said inside, “and I’ll have your king in five moves.”

Bruce smiled.

Tony went on: “Think about it, and tell me how I would do that.”

It was quiet for a long time. Then, “Oh, hell.”

“That’s right.” Tony chuckled. “Now, try another possible move and think it through for at least five more.”

Bruce’s smile widened. He would have thought Tony would play babysitter with some trinket or other not with chess, but it seemed like Tony had no problems doing that, either, while he had the upper hand.

 

Tony was drinking his second coffee and watched Dick’s fingers move over the board in imagined moves, frowning in concentration.   
Suddenly, Tony blinked, raised his eyes a bit and his lip twitched.  
“Aren’t you supposed to be resting, sweetie?” he asked without turning around to the sound he had heard behind him.

“What?” Dick looked up confused and saw Bruce enter the room. “Oh, hey, Bruce. How’re you feeling?”

Bruce nodded at him. “I’m good.”

Tony snorted, got up and turned around. “Yeah, right. Don’t play coy, cupcake. I know it hurts like a bitch.”

Bruce rolled his eyes but couldn’t help but smile a bit at his lover coming towards him. “It’s the shoulder and some ribs, Tony. We’ve both had worse, and I’m fine.”

Tony stopped right in front of him. “And that’s the only reason I’m not kicking you right back upstairs.” Ignoring Bruce’s slightly hesitant look, he raised a hand and ran it over his cheek, smiling.

Bruce still couldn’t believe just how good it felt to have this man here. It wasn’t even just a reaction to having been banged up a little; he just wanted Tony with him.  
He opened his mouth, but it took an embarrassingly long time for him to say, “Thank you for coming.” With that, he leaned in and kissed him.

When the kiss didn’t end after a long moment, but instead just went on, a voice interrupted them.

“I don’t need to see this. I’m supposed to concentrate, here.”

The two men laughed into their kiss – though Bruce’s laugh was a bit restrained, since it sent jolts through his ribs as it was.

Tony framed Bruce’s face and whispered lowly enough so that only he could hear, “Love you.” He gave him another small kiss.

“Love you right back.” Bruce didn’t exactly say it particularly loudly, but he didn’t bother keeping it low enough just for Tony, either, making Tony look both pleased and happy.   
“So,” he said, now clearly addressing both the other men in the room. “You two seem to be getting along.”

“Yeah, you know me,” Tony said, smirking. “I’m good with kids.”

“That’s because you’re one yourself,” Bruce replied right away, just as Dick rolled his eyes, crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat.

Tony grinned at him and kissed him, again. “Have a seat.” He pulled out a chair for Bruce and even pushed it closer to the chess table once he was seated, then he sat down himself.

Bruce raised an eyebrow at him.

“I can do gentleman. Sometimes. If the target is worth it.” He winked.

Bruce bit back a laugh. “That line is _so_ cheesy…”

“It is not!”

“It is so. You’re just…” Bruce shook his head in exasperated amusement.

Dick didn’t have the restraint to keep back his laugh at that display. “You’re both kids,” he declared. He had never seen Bruce like this. Not even close.

Bruce rubbed his face, smiling at Tony. “I think I’m still pumped up on meds.”

Tony snorted. “You only wish you could blame this on the drugs, honey.” He turned to Dick and leaned closer over the table. “That’s what he did when we first met. Blamed it all on the alcohol.” He swivelled his head around to look at Bruce. “Isn’t that right, cupcake? As if.” He turned back to Dick. “He couldn’t get enough of me.”

Dick was way too amused at the antics to be disturbed by mental images he could have gone without. Bruce was always so composed; it was fun to see him loosen his tight grip on his control because he obviously felt at ease with the people with him.

Bruce couldn’t stop smiling. He was almost sure that some drugs might have been at fault, but maybe Tony was right and it _was_ just him. Smug bastard. Smug, beautiful, cheeky, loveable, gorgeous bastard. _God_ , he had missed him.  
That didn’t mean he’d just sit by and listen. “You were the one who chased me from the moment he knew I was in that room, Tony.” Now, the smugness was firmly on _his_ face.

Tony froze in the middle of some gesture to Dick and turned to Bruce. His eyes and smile widened. “You saw me.” It was not a question.

“You zeroed in on me. It was kinda hard to miss.”

Tony laughed, delighted. “Oh, you cheeky little fucker.” He stood from his seat to lean over and kiss Bruce, firmly. “I would marry you on the spot, but then again I know you’d say no.” He chuckled and kissed the sitting man, again.

“You could always try asking,” Bruce said when Tony pulled back. And he could not for the life of him believe he had just said that.  
Bruce knew that Tony liked to play with him a little, make him lose his composure… but Bruce liked to play with Tony just as much. The only problem was that Tony usually came undone in a way that was not suitable for an audience.

And Tony proved Bruce right. His face turned serious within the blink of an eye. “I love you to pieces, you know that, right?”

“That is…” Bruce nodded, “… very convenient, yes.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Even though you’re a real stuck-up ass, sometimes.”

Bruce laughed a bit, used his good hand to pull Tony into a kiss. “Shut up.”

Dick decided that shielding his eyes from the goings-on with his hand was a good idea. They would hopefully sooner rather than later remember that he was still in the room. Or, well, he could just sneak out and leave them to it.

The knock on the open door reminded the kissing men that there were other people on the planet.

“Excuse me, gentlemen, but Commissioner Gordon would like a word with Master Bruce,” Alfred said, the Commissioner already at his side.

Gordon nodded awkwardly at the men inside. “Gentlemen.”

Dick giggled, Bruce tried his hardest not to blush or look too much like he’d just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and Tony sat back down, keeping his arm on the back of his chair and his upper body turned towards the door.

Tony, unsurprisingly, was the one to break the silence. “I had nothing to do with that mess of yours downtown, yesterday,” he declared.

Gordon slowly walked closer, as Alfred closed the door again behind himself. “You’re Tony Stark,” Gordon said, looking surprised and trying to process that piece of information.

“Yeah,” Tony confirmed. “Listen, it’s not like I wouldn’t have helped the bat, but I only got here later, after I’d heard that Bruce got into a robbery.” He shrugged and sent Bruce a small smile. “Also…” he continued, turning to Gordon, again, “Batman doesn’t like me strutting around in his territory, as he put it.”

“You were robbed?” Gordon asked Bruce, immediately.

“Uhm. Yes.” Bruce rubbed his shoulder for emphasis. “Please have a seat,” he offered, pointing to the fourth chair around the small table and by that gaining some time to get his (fake) story straight.

Gordon sat down.

Bruce explained what he hoped sounded plausible. “There were two masked men. I think they were part of what I saw on the news, earlier.”

Tony smiled widely at him and then at Gordon. “He took on those two thugs all on his own. I told him to take up on some martial arts, just, you know… to make sure he’s not that easy a target when this,” he pointed from himself to Bruce, “gets out.”

Gordon nodded. “A good choice. It would make him a target for a number of people.”

“More than he already is, you mean?” Tony said, his voice losing some of its cheerful tone. “Too rich and famous for his own good, that one.”

Bruce sighed. “I wasn’t the one who got himself kidnapped in Afghanistan, Tony.”

Tony pulled a face. “Couldn’t very well expect that my closest friend would try to have me killed, could I?”

“No.” Bruce averted his eyes. “Sorry.”

Tony shook his head and smiled again. “Cheer up, darling. Tell him how you got away.”

Bruce looked relieved for a moment. He knew well that reminding Tony of those events was uncalled for, and that they were better left alone. “Well, I… managed to knock one of them out, the other got my shoulder and…” he gesticulated with his good arm, “… I threw him against a wall.”

Tony grinned. “He totally knocked out both of them,” he stated, proudly.

“Then I hid in a corner when I saw more of them and called Alfred, because I couldn’t drive with one hand.” He tilted his head at Tony. “The hiding part was particularly heroic.”

Tony and Dick laughed.

Bruce turned to Gordon. “I think I caught a glimpse of Batman, but I could have imagined that.”

Gordon nodded. “He was there, so it’s possible.”

Tony cleared his throat. “I saw a whole lot of those masked idiots on TV, this morning. Since most of them got caught, I guess Batman did alright without me.”

“Uh, yes,” Gordon said. “It appears he had help, though, this time.”

“Oh, really?” Tony said gleefully. “Did the grumpy bugger finally get himself a Batgirl?”

Dick completely cracked up at that, and Bruce couldn’t hold back a (painful) laugh, either.

Gordon chuckled. “No, people who saw it seem to believe that it was a man.”

Tony shrugged. “Whatever floats his boat, right, Bruce?”

“Tony…” Bruce said in a mock-threatening voice.

“Maybe I should get someone for myself,” Tony said, now really getting into it. “You could be my Iron Maiden.”

“Stop making me laugh, it hurts,” Bruce said between said laughs.

Gordon cleared his throat, still amused. “I guess that answers the question I came here for. I really just needed to know about your car at the scene.”

Bruce blinked. Oh, hell. He had completely forgotten about the car. That was almost unforgivably neglectful of him. “I… yes. I’m terribly sorry, I must have forgotten.” He schooled his features into a harmless mask.

“Was it in a no parking area?” Tony asked, smiling benignly.

Gordon snorted. “No, but we needed to make sure that the owner is unharmed. Would it be convenient for you to come by the station for a statement when you’re not in too much pain, later?”

“It all went incredibly fast, I’m not sure if I can be of much help,” Bruce answered.

“No matter,” Gordon said and stood. “If questions arise I will have to contact you, but I believe we have everything we need, for now.” He nodded at all people present. “You will have to send someone to pick up your car, though. We removed it from the scene.”

“Of course.”

“Have a nice day, gentlemen.”

“Commissioner…” Bruce stopped him, before he could leave. “The nature of… Tony’s and my relationship is not yet common knowledge. I’d be grateful if it would stay that way until we’ve decided on how to break it to the public.”

Gordon’s lip twitched, and he opened the door. “Your secret is safe with me,” he assured him and left.

For a moment, all three men stared at the closed door.

“Correct me if I’m wrong…” Tony started. “But didn’t that sound like a not so subtle hint?”

Bruce contemplated that. He had known Gordon for a long time, now, but… Huh. He actually didn’t know. “Not sure. He’s… hard to read and always keeps things close to his chest.”  
He caught Tony’s eyes with his and other more personal questions took the place of that one, quickly.

Dick looked from one to the other and back a few times. “Uh…” He cleared his throat. “Would it be okay if I took a bike for a spin?”

Bruce blinked, startled. “What?” He shook his head to clear it. “Sure. Go ahead. Just don’t be too long…” He nodded his head towards Tony. “I think maybe we should talk some more. I mean, he’s here, and there are some open questions on whether or not you want to stay and…” _Man_. He was really bad at the whole family thing.

“Not a problem,” Dick let them know, already heading towards the door.   
He turned around, walked the last few steps backwards and added: “But I thought I should disappear for a few hours, since my future evil stepmother has a… _question_ … to ask you.”

Dick smirked, winked at the two men staring at him with slack jaws and left, laughing.

 

 _TBC_


	5. When I Knew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone could see it. It was only a question of when.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set pretty much all through the ‘verse. You’ll see what I mean ;)

_**Pepper** _

Pepper remembered exactly when she knew that Bruce Wayne was more than another fling to Tony. Sure, she’d had her suspicions that maybe another orphaned, traumatised, billionaire superhero might cause a different reaction in her boss; she had even dared to hope that out of the physical there might grow a friendship and even trust that was very, very needed.

She had not really expected what she did find in the end, however.

~

Tony had pretty much locked himself in his shop after Wayne had left, almost two weeks earlier. That was in itself not surprising, Tony regularly locked himself in his shop. It had been much more surprising that while Wayne had been there, there was hardly any time spent hauled up between tools and utensils and animated sketches, and if there was, Bruce Wayne was right there along for the ride.

Pepper had expected Tony to spend more time tinkering, now that he was not being suitably distracted.

So when she went down there to get some contracts signed by Tony, she found him working at his station, doing some detailed work on something that looked... like it belonged to Batman a lot more than Iron Man.

She smiled benignly. Another thing that didn’t surprise her.

“Good morning, Mr Stark.”

Tony slowly lowered his hands, but kept his eyes on his work. He didn’t move for a long time and just waited for Pepper to leave on the table whatever she came here to leave for him.

Pepper didn’t immediately notice the odd mood and put the pad next to Tony’s elbow.

“Hey, Pep...” he said, almost demurely, trying to get her attention that he always had, anyway.

That made her look up.

“I did something stupid.”

And _that_ made her worried. “Stupid?” She asked, cautiously. She shouldn’t have been worried. Tony did stupid things, regularly, and she had always found ways to deal with those, so far.

Tony, as if reading her mind or just knowing her really well, answered: “Of all the stupid things to pull... this one is easily the stupidest.”

Oh dear. “We can deal with it,” she said optimistically, if nervously.

Tony’s fingers played with a wire sticking out from whatever the hell he was working on.

“Is it... to do with Bruce Wayne? You know...” She nodded towards the invention, not wanting to say Batman out loud.

Tony’s eyes were still firmly on his work, even though they were looking through it. “You know,” he started, “he was here for one week. _One_.” He looked up at her, appearing shocked, holding up a finger for emphasis.

Pepper didn’t really know what to make of this. “And you’ll meet up on Monday.” Well, whatever Tony was worried about, this had nothing to do with it, according to his reaction.

He averted his eyes, again. “And he left less than two weeks ago.”

Pepper blinked.

Tony stood and walked away, coming to a standstill with his back to her. “I am meeting him in three days, as you just mentioned correctly.” He sounded defeated.

“You do.” Pepper still didn’t know what he was on about. From what he said, it seemed like Tony missed the other man, but that still didn’t explain what the problem was that she wanted to deal with before it could blow up completely. She had learned that much in all her years working with him.

“And all I wanna do,” he announced, firmly, turning around, “is put on my armour,” he pointed towards the suit, “fly over to Gotham and...” he waved his arms, helplessly, “... and... just...” He sighed.

“Just?”

“ _Marry_ the fucker!”

That was... not something her years with him would have prepared her for, but after the first second of shock, she was terribly amused, which kind of made Tony angrier.

“What?” He looked at her darkly.

“Well, what’s stopping you?”

“What?” Tony demanded incredulously, his voice taking on a rather unmanly and squeaky quality.

Pepper bit her lips to keep herself from laughing out loud. As it was, she just smiled widely. “Well,” she cleared her throat and schooled her expression into one that looked a little less like she was laughing at him, “maybe you should skip the suit and the wedding at this point, but you _do_ have a jet...” she ended the sentence making it sound like a question, urging him on.

Tony blinked and looked like he hadn’t even thought of that.

Pepper’s lip twitched. “Shall I have the plane readied for you, Mr Stark?”

Tony hesitated for another moment, then smirked. “You shall,” he declared and stalked out of the shop.

“Make sure you pack a suit, in case you stay until Monday,” she called after him, while knowing damn well that in the end she would be the one doing the packing, anyway.

~

That had been when she knew that Tony was head over heels. It took until the following Monday, when she arrived to join Tony for the meeting, for her to see that it might even become more than that.

Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne had walked towards her, both in impeccable suits, both wearing a smug but content expression, both pairs of steps in sync...  
She had to smile.

Pepper knew. And, unbeknownst to her, she already knew more than the stubborn men in question.

 

_**Alfred** _

Alfred knew that he hadn’t seen a smile like the one on Bruce Wayne when he told him that maybe Tony Stark might be a bit more than a friend in a long time, and he even told this the man.

However, Alfred being very protective of Bruce, he’d had doubts about Mr Stark. He had done some research when Bruce had been in Malibu, and he had extended that research when he heard about the... developments. The second part of the research was a lot more extended than it should have been, legally speaking... but Alfred could be as shady in that respect as his employer.

He had found out numerous things about Tony Stark. Most of them not very flattering to the man’s character. He was a womanising, extravagant, debauched, reinless, drinking playboy. Then there was the Iron Man side to him, which didn’t want to fit into the picture Alfred had of him, no matter how hard he tried, except maybe for the huge ego.

But it seemed like Bruce had managed to make that connection and liked what he found. And Alfred trusted Bruce’s judgement.

~

Which was why he was certainly surprised when a car came driving up to the manor, the driver announcing “Tony Stark for Bruce Wayne” into the receiver at the front gate, but not as surprised as he could have been.

Alfred opened the gate without further questioning and went to the door to welcome the guest.

Tony Stark came alone, driving a sports car and stopped right in front of the steps leading up to the front door. He got out of the car, appearing somewhat hesitant, even though he tried to conceal it.

Alfred nodded at him. “Mr Stark. Good evening.” He walked down the stairs and held out his hand in an offer he wouldn't extend to just anyone and definitely not while in his position. “I am Alfred.”

Tony directed wide and almost insecure eyes at the other man that looked nothing like the cocky and self-assured ones he always sported when in public and took the hand.  
“Nice to meet you. Bruce told me a lot about you.”

Alfred nodded again and smiled. “I’m afraid Master Bruce is currently out, but you are of course welcome to stay and wait for him.” Alfred was pleased to notice that the dark eyes became sharp in a second when Tony caught the certain undertone Alfred had added to _‘out’_.

“Is he alright?” Tony asked.

“He was last time I checked, Sir.” Alfred pointed towards the garage. “Might I suggest you park your car and join me inside? We can discuss the details, there.”

“Done,” Tony agreed, immediately and went back to his car to do as Alfred told him.

 

Alfred expected Tony in the lobby and led him straight to the entrance to the cave, seeing no reason not to. He also noticed how Tony eyed the lock on the secret door sceptically.  
“Is something the matter, Mr Stark?”

“The entrance is... inventive,” he said, choosing his words carefully, while following Alfred down the steps, “but it might be discovered.”

Alfred smiled. “You assume that an intruder would get as far as the entrance.”

Tony returned the smile. “I’m guessing that he wouldn’t then?”

Alfred turned on the light. “Your guess is correct.” He was then granted the satisfaction of Tony Stark staring down the steps and into the cave in awe.

The awe turned to mischievous amusement in a short moment. “Gothic...”

Alfred chuckled. “As Master Bruce keeps reminding me: bats are nocturnal.”

Tony smirked at him. “Nothing speaks against lighting up the night a bit, though, right?” Tony headed right for the computer that was currently running and keeping tabs of one Batman.

Alfred couldn’t but agree. Maybe Bruce was right and this man wasn’t all he appeared to be, after all. He was quite... lively and charming, even in just the few minutes since he’d met him.

Tony operated the computer as if he’d never had a different model in front of him, even though Alfred knew that Tony couldn’t possibly have seen this exact type of hardware.  
“He seems to be in a bit of a tight spot,” he said, frowning.

Alfred stepped up next to him. “He should still be able to manage.” Tight, yes, but not too tight.

“Hm,” Tony made and scanned the computer for... he smirked and pointed it out to Alfred. “Will he be upset if I play?”

“Sir...” Alfred hesitated. “I am not sure if...”

But Tony had already started the connection. “Showtime,” he declared, laughing in delight when he saw how the batmobile indeed did flare up the headlights.  
He opened a channel. “Hey, Batsy, keep going, I have your back.”

And when Bruce answered, “Found the remote, have you?” Alfred knew. Not from the fact that Tony Stark was helping without hesitation or even that Bruce accepted it in the same stride... but from the way the brown eyes lit up at hearing the voice of a lover.

Tony laughed and Alfred couldn’t help chuckle with him. “Good going, Master Anthony,” he said quietly enough for the other man not to hear him just then.

 

_**Lucius** _

Lucius didn’t really know what to expect when Alfred greeted him at the door and said that another guest would be with them for dinner, but the smile on the butler’s face seemed to know or hide something beyond that.

He was being led to the study.

“Master Bruce and his guest are in there. I will call you for dinner shortly.”

“Thank you.” Lucius opened the door and went inside. He saw Bruce right away, leaning close to someone sitting next to him on the sofa, and they appeared to be... yes, they were kissing and talking quietly.

Large rooms like this one had the downside of sounds of doors opening not transporting all that well, so Lucius made sure that him closing the door would be heard.

The two separated and turned around and... Oh, my. Lucius’ lip quirked in amusement. He wondered if after a while he would realise why this shouldn’t have surprised him, but as of now, he still was very much surprised, even though Bruce had told him that he wanted to introduce him to someone. Well, the _‘someone’_ did give him a hint, that hint just didn’t even begin to wave in the general direction of Tony Stark.  
What the hint _had_ shown him was that Bruce Wayne appeared... almost rapt. Lucius had known right away that he wouldn’t be introduced to some actress or other, but someone significant. So this would obviously be how he would treat the situation as a whole.

“Lucius!” Bruce greeted him and stood, leading Tony towards the door with a hand on his back. He looked amused but not caught red-handed, which led Lucius to believe that maybe he was either meant to walk in on them, or they just didn’t care if he did.  
Either way, it was a significant display of trust that Lucius felt rightfully proud of.

“Tony Stark, Lucius Fox,” Bruce introduced.

“I’ve heard a great deal of intriguing things about you,” Tony said while taking his hand.

Lucius smiled, very much intrigued in return. “Likewise, Mr Stark.”

“Tony, please.”

Yes, he had been right about the trust placed in him. He had of course been aware that Bruce trusted him, and apparently all it took for the same to apply to Tony Stark was Bruce’s word that he could.  
“I wasn’t expecting you until Monday, Tony.”

Tony smirked. “No business, today. I’m just... visiting.”

“I got that impression,” Lucius nodded.

“Of course,” Bruce added, sarcastically. “For Tony, upgrading the whole security system and God knows what else apparently constitutes as playing, not business.”

Tony bickered right back. “The bat is not business, it’s _spending_ money, cupcake.”

Bruce very nearly pouted. “I’m trial testing equipment in the field,” he explained, trying to sound serious but not really succeeding.

Tony snorted, accordingly.

“Like you don’t to that.” Bruce looked at him with a tilted head.

“Of course I do,” Tony grinned. “And like you said, _I_ call it playing.” He pondered that for a second. “Pepper calls it _‘being a reckless idiot, again’_.”

Lucius chuckled. “Sounds like something Alfred might say...”

Tony and Bruce grinned at each other in complete accord.

That was when Lucius knew without a doubt that those two could and would manage amazing things together. For the world as well as for them.

It was a... good image.

 

_**Dick** _

Dick knew…  
Well, Dick knew from the beginning, and he would continue to tell everyone that, too.

He had known that - while Tony certainly didn’t propose on the spot just because Dick pretty much dared him to - it would take the Iron Man no more than a month or two to realise that he _wanted_ to.  
And Dick was right.

 

**_Bruce_ **

Bruce had realised very soon what it was that he wanted. Almost too soon. It had frightened him, because abandonment and betrayal issues don’t just go away because you want them to.

So despite him trusting Tony almost from the very beginning, he never quite trusted himself, never really knew if he was worth what Tony apparently saw in him. It had always felt a bit like it was too good to be true. And he would have projected those fears on Tony, except that he had fallen too fast and hard for his feelings to let him. He would have felt guilty accusing Tony of things even only in his mind, though some of those thoughts were not that far-fetched if one knew the man’s history. And Bruce did know that very well.

Nowadays, he was really grateful that his feelings kept him from accusing Tony of a number of things that he didn’t do but that might have fit the profile of a careless womaniser. It could have destroyed their relationship before it ever would have had the chance to become anything substantial.

Nevertheless, some frightened part of him kept insisting that he would lose what he had now, most likely through his own stupidity. The day he knew he would not lose Tony through anything but death itself, happened to be today.

~

Bruce walked down the steps to Tony’s shop. He had managed to tweak a day or two off work and had decided he might as well fly over and surprise the man. Tony certainly did that often enough. And since Dick had promised to keep an eye out for shenanigans in Gotham, while also promising to _not_ go out and solve any of those himself, he felt relatively sure that the world wouldn’t come to an end if he disappeared for a bit.

Bruce held a cup of coffee in his hand that he was not entirely disinclined to share with Tony and smiled to himself. He typed in his code for the door and slipped inside.

Tony was standing with his back to Bruce at his work station and with a glowing projection in front of him.

“How long until we can get a stone like that, Jarvis?” Tony asked.

“I am estimating about two weeks to a month, Sir, but it is hard to say with the current market.”

Bruce blinked and walked closer, curious about what it was that Tony needed that would be so difficult to get a hold of for a billionaire who usually just made what he wanted himself. He stepped around some instruments strewn about on the floor and from that angle could indeed make out the shape of the projection…  
His breath caught in his throat and he froze.

Tony sighed, still looking at the sketch. “Well, I have the measurements. I guess all I can do now is wait.”

Bruce did a weird choking sound in his throat, even though he tried his hardest to hold it back.

Tony turned his head towards the sound, startled horribly when he saw Bruce standing there, knocked his own cup of coffee to the floor with an elbow and turned off the projection. “Fucking _Fuck_!” he cursed.

Bruce still stood there, his cup in hand and at a complete loss for words. How did one even react to seeing something like that?  
“Are… you alright?” he finally made himself say.

Tony was standing at his table, both fists on the surface, his shoulders slumped and his face downturned. He sighed and tilted his head to look at Bruce. “You saw it, didn’t you?”

Bruce wanted to avert is eyes, but he didn’t. “I’m sorry.”

Tony raised his eyes heavenwards and sighed, again. Finally he shook his head in defeat and turned the enlarged projection of something that was really small in reality back on. “So what do you think?”

Bruce was still kind of shell shocked. He looked at the image, anyway. “Were you going to…?”

“Propose? Yes, actually.” Tony crossed his arms and studied his design of the ring, again. “I was, however, going to do that when I actually had the damn thing finished.” He huffed, sounding kind of annoyed with the fates for getting in the way of his plans.

Bruce slowly inched closer to the work desk, his eyes firmly on the ring. “Were you going to use an aquamarine?” The stone in the projection had a blue-ish glow to it.

Tony snorted. “Do you really think I’d propose with an aquamarine, cupcake?”

Bruce blinked. He didn’t really care what kind of stone went in the damn thing; it was obvious that Tony put a lot of thought in the design.

“I wanted a light blue diamond.” He nodded towards the projection. “I’d need about five to six carats.” He rolled his eyes. “And as Jarvis informed me, they aren’t all that easy to come by at exactly that hue and weight, apparently. At least not quickly.”

Bruce knew that normally, this would have been the moment to either accept or refuse the proposal. Except that Tony didn’t exactly propose, and Bruce didn’t really know how to deal with a situation like that, anyway.  
“So, uh… you gonna let me design the one for you?” It was as good as an answer, he thought.

Tony’s head shot up, and he stared at Bruce.

“I mean…” The informality and uniqueness of their… _dialogue_ didn’t help ease his nervousness entirely, despite his efforts. He tilted his head towards the sketch. “This is obviously something from you to me.” He waited for Tony to confirm.

Tony nodded, slowly.

“So I thought, you know… the other one should be something from me to you.” His eyes fell on the ring. Tony probably chose titanium. It was a plain, broad band with a round gem in the middle. The only thing unusual about it was the markings around the stone. “It’s your arc reactor, isn’t it?”

Tony almost shuffled his feet, and only just caught himself in time before he actually could. He still looked away and did an odd nodding or shrugging or fidgeting movement with the whole of his upper body. “Well, you… do keep me going, cupcake.”

Bruce had been right with his non-verbal accepting of the offer, that one was very clear by now. He smiled and pulled Tony into a deep kiss without another word. He kept it up long enough for Tony to return the tight hug, relax gradually and finally moan into the kiss.  
When he broke it, Tony looked a ravished mess. Bruce very much liked that.  
“Okay, off with you. It’s my turn.”

Tony blinked at him for a moment, then crossed his arms. “Hey! I showed you mine, now you should show me yours.”

Bruce smirked. “You didn’t _show_ me yours, cookie, I just saw.” He pointed towards the stairs. “I won’t be long.”

Tony rolled his eyes, but left. “Spoilsport.”

~

Bruce knew that Tony probably expected him to stay in the shop for quite some time. He smiled smugly when Tony looked at him in surprise when he resurfaced after hardly more than ten minutes.

Tony was standing next to the couch in the living room and had been looking out the window when he heard the steps.  
“That was quick…”

Bruce sauntered closer. “Well, the rings were supposed to match, right? So I just modified your design.”

Tony met Bruce halfway and pulled him right into his arms, resting his forehead against the other’s with closed eyes. He wanted to be happy, he really did, but… well. He had expected to have some time to let things sink in, to talk himself into presenting the ring, to ask the question and get down on a damn knee if he had to. He hadn’t expected to be overwhelmed by his own surprise.  
“What are we doing, Bruce?” he asked, quietly.

“What we want?”

Tony opened his eyes and grinned. “Sounds like a plan?” He made it sound like a question. For someone who had come up with the idea in the first place, he was surprisingly insecure.

Bruce nodded and kissed him, softly.

“The press are going to have a field day. Day _s_ , plural. _Weeks_ ,” Tony said when he broke the kiss.

Bruce snorted. “Something you could have fun with.”

Tony couldn’t help but smirk. “Don’t you worry about…?” he asked anyway.

“Naw.” Bruce waved him off. “One secret is enough.” The smile Tony gave him for this was worth fighting each and every doubt he’d ever had.  
“Oh,” Bruce added, “the rings might take a little longer to get ready, though. A month or two.”

This brought Tony back on his usual track. “Ex _cuse_ me?”

Bruce shrugged apologetically (and maybe a bit amused at Tony’s antics).

“Do you have to keep trying to have one up on me?”

Bruce laughed out loud.

“I mean, seriously. I want to give you a six carat, light blue diamond, and you probably want a stone imported from _Venus_ or something! You are…”

Tony never did get to finish his sentence. Bruce kissed the living daylights out of him, mussing up his hair in the process.

“You don’t play fair, cupcake,” Tony complained, once they came up for air. He thought he might as well make himself comfortable in the embrace and put his head on Bruce’s shoulder.

Bruce ran some fingers through the dark, floppy hair. “Besides, we have time. I’m gonna spend the rest of my life with you.”

Tony’s breath hitched just a bit and he tightened his hold on the other man.

And Bruce knew that he was right with what he had just said.

 

**_Tony_ **

Tony was the last one to know. Or, rather, he was the last one to _believe_. He needed to be able to touch, to see. Things could be so flighty, otherwise. He needed the clear-cut, hands-on approach.

He needed the damn rings on both their fingers.

~

Tony ripped off his tie the moment he entered the front door. Pepper only just managed to catch it when he tossed it away.

“I’m telling you, those meetings get more boring every time.”

“Expanding can be so tedious,” Pepper agreed, smiling benignly, patting his shoulder.

“Are you patronising me?”

“Just a little.”

Tony smirked.

Their banter was interrupted by the AI. “Good evening, Sir.”

“Good evening, Jarvis. Any news?” He silently begged for the AI to tell him that he had a visitor. It didn’t.

“The requested items have been assembled, Sir.”

Tony stopped mid-movement and half-way into the living room. “Both of them?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir.”

Pepper blinked at the sudden change of tone in Tony’s demeanour. “What items?”

Oh, right. Tony now remembered never having told Pepper about that. He’d get quite the chewing out for the oversight, he knew.  
“Jarvis, put both of them in a box and get my suit ready,” he said, his eyes on Pepper.

“You’re leaving?” Pepper asked.

He sighed and kissed her forehead. “Miss Potts, I will be gone for the weekend. I have an engagement to make official.”  
He sprinted off for the shop, Pepper audibly click-clacking after him and all but screeching an incredulous “What?!”

In the shop, Dummy turned towards Tony with a box in its grapple.

“Your box, Sir,” Jarvis announced.

“Thank you,” Tony said automatically, walking to the platform to get suited up.

“Tony!” Pepper interrupted him. She was not going to let him leave like that! This was not just any old news, it was important! “You’re actually going to propose?” she asked when he turned around while stowing the box away.

Tony smirked. “Already did.” He patted the pocket with the rings in it. “Bruce designed one of them.”

Oh, hell, Pepper was going to get all teary-eyed, now, she could tell. She bit her lip and smiled. “Congratulations.”

Tony hopped onto the platform. “Say, Pep, could you cook up something for the press?”

She rolled her eyes. It was so very like Tony to keep something like this to himself, even though she could have used the extra time to come up with a press plan.  
“Are you two going to walk around wearing matching rings come tomorrow?”

“Yep,” Tony confirmed, cheerfully. “Well, not sure exactly how they match, I haven’t seen the one Bruce made for me, but… Yep.”  
The machine whirred around him, putting the armour on his body.

Before he closed the front shield of his helmet, Pepper stepped up to him and kissed his cheek. “Congratulations,” she said, again. “And don’t worry about the press. I’m taking care of it.”

Tony smiled at her. “Thanks, Pep.”

“Go get him.” She smirked.

Tony winked and was gone within seconds.

~

Tony came up from the cave where he had parked his suit and was surprised not to be greeted by Alfred right away. The man must have been busy, then, since he always kept tabs of movements downstairs.

He finally heard some murmured voices in the study and headed there, opened the door and peeked inside.

Bruce was talking to Lucius. Sounded like business. Boring.

Tony closed the door and waited for the men to acknowledge him. He waved a little when they turned around.

Bruce immediately knew what this visit had to be about and shook Lucius’ hand who smiled at him. They exchanged another few words, and Lucius met Tony by the door, while Bruce remained where he was.

Lucius now shook Tony’s hand and leaned closer. “Congratulations,” he said in hushed tones, before he left.

Tony smiled crookedly. Apparently, it had occurred to Bruce that it might be a good idea to warn people beforehand. Then again, Bruce had always been more organised than he was.  
Right now, his lover came towards him, so they were on the same wave length, again, and things like organisation didn’t matter.

Bruce stopped maybe a foot away from him and took a deep breath. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Do you like it?”

Tony fumbled for the box in his pocket and took it out. “Dunno. I haven’t looked at it. I wanted you to give it to me.” He held out his hand, and Bruce took the box.

“You’re kidding, right? For once in his life, Tony Stark wasn’t too curious for his own good?” Bruce smirked, but for a smirk, it was very loving.

“Very funny,” Tony replied, dryly.

The smirk vanished off Bruce’s face when he opened the box and looked inside. For a long moment he did nothing else.  
“They look beautiful together,” he said in awe, running a gentle finger over the rings.

Tony fidgeted. He still hadn’t seen them. It was terribly unfair. “Bruce…”

Bruce was startled into a small laugh and looked up. “Sorry.” He took out the ring Tony had made for him and snapped the box closed, again. “You first.”

Tony took it and inspected it intently, twisting it around between his fingers. “Nice.” It had turned out beautiful. It would look even more beautiful where it belonged.  
With a crooked finger he gestured Bruce to lift his left hand. He put the ring on the finger, effortlessly. “Like a glove,” he noted, satisfied.

Bruce had to swallow. It did fit. So much. He cleared his throat. “My turn.”  
He opened the box, again and smirked at the sight. “You know…” he started, taking the ring out, though making sure Tony couldn’t see it, just then. “At first I just thought you’d like the colours.”

Tony raised an eyebrow.

Bruce opened the hand the ring lay in, and Tony laughed. It was gold with a crimson stone and the arc reactor like markings were missing.  
“But then I realised…” Bruce threw away the box so that he had both hands free. He lifted Tony’s left hand with his and slid the ring on the finger. He smiled a small smile and kissed the hand.

“What did you realise?” Tony didn’t like one bit how hoarse his voice sounded.

Bruce held the hand firmly in his and looked up. “You kind of are the colour in my life, aren’t you?”

Tony stared at him and blinked, rapidly. “If you’re making me cry like a soppy idiot, I’m gonna kill you and destroy all evidence.”

Bruce laughed and pulled his very new fiancé into a kiss.

Tony broke it too soon. “Also… please tell me that’s not a diamond.”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “Not this again.”

“I mean, seriously, I didn’t even think there were more than three diamonds _that_ red worldwide, and they’re all smaller or microscopic!”

Bruce shrugged. “That one wasn’t exactly on record.”

“You’re nuts, Wayne.”

Bruce smirked. “Do you really think I’d propose with a ruby?” he threw Tony’s words from two months ago back at him.

Tony smirked in return. “Nuts, but I kinda like it.”

And when they kissed, again, Tony finally knew. Knowledge had never felt better.

 

_TBC_


	6. About Damn Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What’s in a wedding?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set the morning after "When I Knew".

Cuddling in the afterglow was not something Tony Stark was used to or interested in. But, and so he was learning, he had been rapidly getting used to and interested in it, in the more recent times.  
He didn’t really know why. Well, he knew why he’d never been interested in it, before. The girls (and every now and then guys) he took to bed were fun to spend some hours with, and that was it. He probably should have felt bad about the fact that he’d never considered any of them worth his time beyond that, but it wasn’t like it was _his_ fault that they couldn’t keep up and sooner rather than later drove him out of bed and either into a drink to get at least _some_ mental kick or into his workshop if he happened to be at home. Possibly both.

That was just the way he was. He _needed_ to keep his mind busy or it continually threatened to drive him to madness. Lying around for some mindless caresses wasn’t his thing. He would get restless; his fingers would ache to do something more elaborate than running up and down a back or the likes; his thoughts would go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, usually going through some schematics of his suit, until he jumped up and out and had to follow this idea.

That was him. Always busy, always restless. Which sounded a lot worse than it was; he didn’t mind having a brain like his. It was also a lot of fun being able to do what he did and having the means to realise them.  
It had the downside of nobody keeping his attention and interest for longer than a few hours. Nobody could challenge him. Pepper knew how to deal with him, but – as much as he loved her – she couldn’t keep up, either. She didn’t have the background to understand, didn’t grow up with a family name and company and fortune, didn’t know what it was like to have a mind that wouldn’t quit, didn’t _really_ know why he did the things Iron Man needed to do. She stood by him and always would; he knew that and was incredibly grateful he had her. She was there for him, but she wasn’t there _with_ him. Nobody had ever been able to be…

 

So why was it that he could lie here for hours after sex, just holding Bruce Wayne in his arms, doing nothing but running mindless fingers up and down the man’s back and through his hair, feeling him breathing against his collar bone, hearing him hum contently and saying a soft word every now and then? How was it that, with him, he could actually _sleep_?

Back when they had started out, it both confused and frightened him. And while it still amazed him, it didn’t frighten him, anymore.

He moved his left arm that Bruce was half lying on from the man’s back and into his hair, smiling as he saw the red and gold glisten slightly on his finger in the constant light that his reactor projected into the room.

“You’re doing it, again,” Bruce mumbled into Tony’s neck, sounding amused.

Tony smirked and rolled his eyes. “Fuck you.” He felt Bruce’s grin widen against his skin and squinted down, catching Bruce doing the exact same thing with his own ring that was gracing the hand lying on Tony’s chest. “Like you’re any better.”

“Hmm,” Bruce hummed and tilted his head a bit to nip at Tony’s neck. “Of course not.”

Didn’t change the fact that Tony didn’t like it when he was being caught at being sappy. “Why aren’t you asleep?”

“I was thinking,” Bruce answered.

“Uh-huh.” Tony didn’t sound particularly impressed, which made Bruce swat his chest.

“Shut it. We can’t all be geniuses.”

Tony smiled. Not at the compliment, but because he knew that Bruce was far, far from stupid. He even had a smart enough brain to challenge him into mindless cuddling and the likes. Which basically was the answer to Tony’s personal riddle. Bruce intrigued him as a person, kept him on his toes by his presence alone. Complemented him. Fit him. Was right there with him.  
“So, you were thinking?” he urged.

“Yes, I was.” He lightly ran a finger over Tony’s stomach, making him tense just enough to show Bruce that he was ticklish but good at hiding it. He smiled. “Remember how I said that Batman can do more as a symbol than as a man?”

Tony raised an eyebrow. He usually didn’t like it if the bat made an appearance in the bedroom, and Bruce usually also kept it well out, but this sounded like it didn’t have to do with Batman per se.  
Tony frowned. It had better not. They’d just got engaged, dammit.  
“So, now you decided to make him a gay symbol and give him a rainbow striped cape.”

Bruce chuckled and raised his head to prop it on his hand to look at Tony. “Actually, I thought Bruce Wayne could be that symbol. Without the... rainbow cape.”

Tony blinked at him sceptically. “You going political on me, cupcake?” He didn’t think he could stomach yet another goal that kept Bruce from him. Batman was more than enough, thanks.

Bruce snorted. “No way. I’ll leave that to other people. No, I was thinking...” he averted his eyes and frowned, “... Do you have any idea just how much we pay in taxes?”

“Nope,” Tony said, not caring one bit that he actually had _no_ idea how much he had to pay, much less Bruce.

Bruce shrugged, lopsidedly. “Neither do I, but I guess we can assume that it’s a lot.”

“Agreed.”

“And we’re paying for other people’s right to get married while we can’t.”

Tony blinked.

“It kind of pisses me off, actually.”

Tony considered that. He didn’t really care about marriage; it was just a slip of paper, and he and Bruce already had the rings, which to them meant all there was, anyway. But when you put it that way, it _was_ kind of annoying. It made him want to get married in some huge, elaborate affair just because he _couldn’t_.  
“The one thing you can’t buy for money, I guess.”

Bruce smirked. “Oh, I don’t know. Make a disgustingly large donation here and there, set it off against tax liability...” his smirk widened.

Tony smirked back.

“Get married without the paperwork in one of those media-effective ways that we’re so good at, and then see if Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark can be enough of a symbol without the superhero touch to get things moving.”

Tony returned the smile for a moment, then he sobered. “And what if we’re not?”

Bruce shrugged. “Then I will take my billions... and my husband and _his_ billions... and move to Europe or something.”

Tony snorted. “No, you won’t.” Bruce loved his town way too much. And while Tony himself wasn’t as bound to one spot like Bruce – even if he did like his place in Malibu – he would never leave the country.

Bruce grinned. “No, I won’t. But it makes for a good line in front of a camera.”

“Hit them where it hurts?”

“Nothing gets politicians going more than the threat of losing a shitload of taxes and jobs.”

Tony chuckled. “You are evil.”

“I am also a spoiled billionaire who wants to get his way.” He put on his most clueless expression that he sometimes used and nodded, seriously.

Tony snickered. “I’d say that I’m not buying your act, but I guess just this once, that is exactly what you’re doing.”

Bruce smiled benignly. “Well, not _only_.” Though he had to admit silently that just this once, he was being selfish. But he figured he deserved it. Just this once. “I mean, it _is_ unfair.”

Tony conceded with a tilt of his head. “I guess. I never really thought about it.” Marriage was such a... foreign concept to him. He had never really understood why people would be so hell-bent on doing it.  
Now that he did understand, he still hadn’t really thought about it. He had Bruce; end of story.

“And you could have fun playing with the press...” Bruce taunted.

Tony smirked. “You don’t have to sell me the idea of having a huge-ass wedding. You know I like to show off.”

Bruce grinned at him and then kissed him, teasing the other’s tongue with his a little.  
Playing the spoiled billionaire did have its entertaining moments, just as Alfred had predicted. Though, nowadays, he didn’t have fun accidentally; he had Tony.  
“So, uh, Pepper’s doing a press plan?”

Tony nodded, pulling Bruce’s head down for another kiss. “We’ll probably have it by morning,” he mumbled between kisses.

Bruce moved to lie on top of Tony. “So why don’t we have some more of that very personal,” kiss, “and private,” another kiss, “wedding night?”

Tony never got to answer that one...

*

When Alfred opened the curtains the next day around noon, they’d had a lot more of said wedding night and were not too happy at being woken up.

“Good morning, gentlemen.”

The only answer he got was twin groans.

“Miss Potts has arrived,” Alfred continued, waiting next to the bed for a little more of a reaction.

Tony lifted his head at that. “Pepper’s here?”

“Indeed.”

Bruce now turned his head to look at Alfred, too.

The butler nodded at him. “And she would like to give out a press release that Bruce Wayne will present his fiancé at tonight’s art opening.”

Tony’s head dropped back on the pillow with another groan.

Alfred looked amused. “Miss Potts seemed to be of the opinion that the public should be informed before rumours start spreading.” He cleared his throat. “And seeing as you’re both wearing rings, it would have to be soon.”

Bruce rubbed his face, trying to wake up. “She doesn’t want to announce both our names to the press, beforehand? Just mine?”

Now, Alfred _definitely_ was amused. “Miss Potts thinks, and I concur, that you would both prefer to... make an entrance for the press.”

Bruce smirked and Tony snickered.

“Seeing all their faces does sound like fun,” Bruce said.

Tony batted his eyelashes at Bruce. “You can show me off on your arm.”

“Oh, I will show you off, alright.”

Before the look they sent each other could get any more heated, Alfred interrupted. “I can give Miss Potts a green light, then?”

“Very green,” Tony said, absently, still looking at Bruce.

Alfred nodded, decisively. “Very good. I must ask you to come downstairs, then. She has several things she would like to discuss with the happy couple.”

Bruce sighed, while Tony – who had seen this coming a mile away – grinned at him.

“Shall I prepare a lunch?” Alfred added, making sure that they understood that he expected the both of them to leave their bedroom, soon.

“Give us half an hour,” Bruce said.

Alfred nodded and left them to it.

Tony rolled onto his side to look at Bruce. “That is enough for a joint shower. Wouldn’t you agree, Mrs Stark?”

“Absolutely, Mrs Wayne.”

~

Bruce wandered into the kitchen on his own, half an hour later. It still amused him to no end that more often than not, the kitchen was where they ended up eating, nowadays (unless they had guests), even if Alfred had tried to relocate meals to a more appropriate setting. Though Bruce was sure that Alfred didn’t mind as much as he had initially implied.

They were a family after all. A family that currently was missing not only Tony, but Dick, as well.

Bruce found Pepper talking to Alfred and then smiling at him when she saw him.

“Good morning,” she said right away and stood to greet him. The moment she took his hand, her eyes flickered to his other one.

Bruce grinned. “Good morning.” He reacted to her trying to be subtle, anyway and lifted his left hand. “Take a look?”

She smirked and cleared her throat, completely ignoring that she had been caught. She held the offered hand in her open palm and her breath stopped just for a moment, before she gasped. She let go of the hand and stepped back, smiling widely.  
“I’m going to cry, again.” She held up her hands in some unnecessary defensive stance and sat back down, hiding behind her coffee.

Bruce chuckled and sat in his usual spot near the door. “You cried before? Tony didn’t say...”

Pepper sniffed, once, and cleared her throat, again. “After he left,” she admitted, making Bruce grin. “But you should have seen him. He was _beaming_.”

“He still looked pretty pleased when he got here,” Bruce answered. His voice held both the love and the amusement at the teasing.

Pepper laughed, lightly. “Bruce, I just wanted to say... that I’m _really_ happy for you two.” She bit her lip. “I didn’t think it was even possible, actually,” she rushed out and laughed, nervously and then sobered but still smiled. “Not before you.”

Bruce had to avert his eyes. “I’d say that I didn’t see it coming, but he pulled me in so fast that I never stopped to wonder where we were headed.” He smiled, ruefully.

“He does that,” Pepper agreed. “Where is he, anyway?”

Bruce pulled a face. “On the phone. The Colonel called. Tony was not happy.”

Pepper’s face immediately fell. “Oh, not now.”

Alfred turned from the stove where he was cooking and brought Bruce a coffee, too. “That would be Colonel Fury, I take it?”

Bruce accepted the coffee. “Thank you. Yes, it is.”

That was when Dick came rushing in, as well. He slipped out of his leather jacket, slung it over the back of the chair between Bruce and Pepper and patted Bruce on the shoulder with his other hand.  
“Good morning and congratulations, Bruce!” he declared, exuberantly. He let himself drop in his chair and grinned at Bruce.

“Good morning and thank you.” He raised an eyebrow.

“I just took the bike to the gallery,” Dick said, making a general gesture with his thumb over his shoulder. “And you won’t believe this, but there’s press there, already.”

Bruce looked at Pepper, again. “When did you release the statement, again?”

“Half an hour ago.”

Dick leaned back in his seat and grinned. “There’s also press in front of the gates, here...”

“Well,” Bruce said and sipped his coffee. “At least they’ll get something for their efforts.”

Dick’s grin turned downright evil. “I _so_ want the best spot to watch them when they see you.” He snickered. “They’ll probably burst a vessel or something.”  
His eyes flickered to the door when he saw a movement. “Mom! There you are!”

Tony stalked into the room and pointed a warning finger at him. “Watch it, young man, or you’re grounded until you’re fifty.”  
He apparently didn’t even feel like waiting for Alfred who would have loved to bring him his coffee and made one, himself.

“Impatient, Master Anthony?”

“I need this, right now,” he grumbled and downed half the cup in one go. Then he shook himself and blinked. “And hello, Pepper.”

“Good morning.”

“It’s not morning. It’s well into the afternoon,” he protested and sat on Bruce’s right side.

Bruce looked at him oddly. “Everything okay?” he asked, cautiously.

“Oh, yes!” Tony said, mock cheerfully. “I told him that I would hang up on him if he called my fiancé derogatory terms, again.”

Bruce lifted an eyebrow. “And?”

“And then I hung up on him ten seconds later.”

Bruce chuckled. “And he didn’t call back?”

“Dunno.” Tony shrugged. “Left the phone upstairs.”

Dick snickered, Bruce grinned and Pepper looked like she wanted to disapprove but couldn’t make herself.

“What did he call me?” Bruce wanted to know despite himself.

Tony pretended to think about it and then said, “over-priced boy-toy.”

Bruce looked amused. “You still haven’t told him about Batman, have you?”

“Nope.”

“Would it help?” Bruce asked. Because the Colonel breathing down Tony’s neck because he didn’t like Tony spending time with his partner was getting tedious.

“Probably,” Tony admitted. “But it’s none of his damn business.”

Bruce knew that only part of that attitude was actually because Tony was angry at Fury. Another part was Tony protecting Bruce’s secret identity, even though Tony didn’t really relate to the idea, but since it was of concern to his lover, he would support that.  
It wasn’t the first time Tony did or said something like that, but Bruce smiled at him without even realising. Tony stared darkly into his coffee and didn’t notice, either. The other three, however, very much noticed.

The land-line phone that helpfully had a receiver in the kitchen rang, and Tony groaned, hitting the table with his fist. “I am going to take that phone and...”

“I’ll take it,” Bruce said, interrupting him. He stood to pick up the phone and already returned to his seat while answering. “Bruce Wayne.”

Tony studied Bruce, interested, and gave him a look that clearly said, _’What are you up to?’_

Bruce was much angrier than he had let on, earlier. He didn’t care about insults; he didn’t even care about Fury digging into their private life... but he was getting tired of the man hanging out _’the Colonel’_ when he was the one who wanted something from Tony, wanted him on the team.  
“I’m sorry, but for some reason he doesn’t really want to talk to you right now.”

Tony propped his chin on his hand and got ready to enjoy the show.

“Colonel, Tony and I just exchanged rings, yesterday. I’m sure you understand that breaking it to the press tonight requires both our attendance as well as some preparation.” He paused. “Yes, I am quite serious. And if you would let Tony finish a sentence that is non-work related, you’d know that.”

Tony didn’t yet really know where Bruce was heading with this, but looking at the mischief in his eyes, he was only getting started.

“Look, I know you’re a good guy, or Tony wouldn’t put up with you. But it’s like this, _you_ recruited him, _you_ wanted to have him on your team. So now you better deal with what you got.”

Tony crossed his arms and frowned at Bruce, looking insulted.

Bruce just smirked back. “Well, yes, he spends a lot of time in Gotham, but look at it this way…” now the imp truly shone through, and Tony appeared almost worried.

Pepper knew that look well, Dick blinked confusedly, and Alfred would have searched for the nearest fallout shelter had he not been too interested in finding out what the next move would be.

Bruce continued: “… Had Tony not been here two weeks ago, it would have taken him a lot longer to get to New York and help Parker with that little tight spot of his.”

“You are getting me in so much trouble,” Tony whispered almost inaudibly, but he grinned widely, apparently thinking that the show he got in return was worth it.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Didn’t Tony inform you that he tells me everything?” Bruce said innocently. After that, he held the receiver a little farther from his ear and let Fury let off some steam in one long rant.  
“Yes… absolutely. Yes, sir.” He huffed a small laugh and pointedly looked at Tony. “I will let him know that there are superheroes who can keep a secret, yes.”

Pepper was biting a finger, and Dick covered his face in both hands, trying to laugh as silently as he could. Alfred sighed a long-suffering sigh, mumbling, “ _kids_ ,” under his breath.

Bruce sobered a bit. “It’s possible that this is one reason why Batman is hard to contact even for you…” He locked eyes with Tony. “Personally, I think it’s just because I was never much of a team player.”

Tony’s eyes widened.

“You heard me, Colonel,” Bruce said, calmly. The voice on the other end got calmer, too. “Because, quote, _it’s none of your damn business_ , unquote.” He smiled warmly. “You see, he _can_ keep a secret.”  
The warm smile suddenly froze, and Bruce remembered why he had been angry, earlier. “Why should that change anything, must less everything? Tony has every right to be with someone, and, no, that someone does not have to be as nuts as him, trying and trying to make a change and mostly failing. No! _You_ listen! Do you know what happens to people like us who fight for a better world but don’t remember what a better world is even supposed to be like, anymore?” His jaw set. “Because I know what happens. I was there. You forget why the fight is worth it, but you keep going, anyway, because it’s all you know.” He forced himself to breathe. “I was reminded of what a better world can be like when I met Tony. I know why it’s worth it, again.”  
Bruce startled when Tony was suddenly right in front of him and took the phone out of his hand, holding it out to Dick.

“Kid, take this. Entertain him or something,” Tony said, slid into Bruce’s lap and kissed him.

Dick looked at the phone in his hand and blinked before he held it up to his ear. “Uh… hello? … Dick Grayson, sir, I… _Guys_! Not in the _kitchen_!”

At first, Tony and Bruce just ignored the complaints, but it only took them seconds to get lost in the moment and not notice anything, anymore, altogether. They didn’t notice Dick giving the phone to Pepper to talk to the Colonel, and they didn’t notice that Alfred put their lunch on the table for them, while he took the one for himself, Pepper and Dick out of the room, the other two following him.

 

When Tony and Bruce broke apart, it was quiet in the room. They were alone.

Tony looked around. “We _have_ to stop doing this.”

Bruce didn’t appear like he agreed. He grinned and waggled the fingers of his left hand at Tony. “Well, we just got married, yesterday, if we’re ignoring the formalities that neither of us cares about, anyway. We’re entitled to a bit of….” He shrugged.

Tony returned the look and after a while gave a confirming nod. “Right you are, Mrs Stark.”

Bruce knew that if they kept this whole beaming at each other thing up, he’d probably burst, but like he had said: he was entitled to a little bit of… well, he supposed it was happiness. “We’re both nuts, right?”

“You got a problem with that?”

“Nope.” He kept looking at Tony for a bit, then nodded towards the table. “Lunch?” He thought it better to not get back into what he’d been telling Fury, before. He had meant every word, and Tony knew that. They both knew that. But actually saying it out loud, much less to someone he hadn’t even met and in front of an audience… well, Bruce didn’t think it needed further discussing.

Tony groaned and climbed off Bruce’s lap. “Let’s,” he agreed, indulging Bruce’s attempt to lead the way out of their _’moment’_.

“Think the Colonel stopped yelling at some point?” Bruce asked, slightly amused. Not that it had sounded like Fury was yelling, anymore – Bruce had surprisingly successfully reprimanded him into silence – but it helped to lighten the mood considerably.

Tony smirked. “Pepper can deal with him, don’t worry.” She could, too. And had on several occasions previous to this one.

Their twosome lunch turned out to be uncharacteristically quiet and companionable. No more emotional outbursts or doom hanging over them. It was… refreshing.

*

“Miss Potts! What a surprise!” Lucius Fox walked towards her, already holding out his hand, mirth radiating off him in waves.

“Mr Fox, always a pleasure.” She took his hand and accepted a kiss on the cheek. “Are you expecting Mr Wayne, today?” she asked.

“Indeed. He should be here shortly.”

“What a coincidence.”

Lucius couldn’t contain a chuckle. “This night should prove to be interesting.” He looked around the gallery and all the guests that were already present, amongst some journalists who tried to look like they were no more than guests. “How much longer now?”

Pepper looked at her watch. “Five more minutes.” She lifted her head to see Dick wandering around on the upper floor that consisted of three bridges across the whole room and small platforms along the sides. His eyes kept trailing to the window.

Lucius followed her line of sight. “Ah. Mr Grayson found an advantageous point to observe, I see.”

Pepper cleared her throat to keep herself from laughing out loud. “He wanted the best spot to see the press reaction.” She nodded towards the window wall facing out front. “I will join him in a bit. I don’t think I want to miss that, either.”

Lucius smiled, amused. “I’m going to stay down here and... catch them when they come in.” He nodded at her. “Excuse me, I should get into position, now.”

She laughed a bit and headed for the stairs when a voice interrupted her.

“Pepper Potts, I didn’t expect you here.”

Pepper recognised that voice immediately. “Miss Everhart,” she greeted her. My, this could be fun. “I thought business was your area of expertise, not art.”

Everhart looked like she didn’t know whether or not that was an insult and just chose to ignore it. “I was here for a presentation at Wayne Enterprises and supposed to leave again tonight. Something came up, as I’m sure you’re aware, and I was sent here on short notice.”

“Oh, yes. I heard about that.” For some reason she either felt inexplicably generous, or this was just an opportunity to make Everhart lose her composure that she couldn’t let pass... “Do you have a photographer outside?”

The answering look was suspicious. “Yes. Why?”

Pepper bit her lip. “You’re gonna need it.” She tilted her head towards the stairs. “Follow me.”

Everhart crossed her arms. “Are you now getting paid to keep journalists off _Wayne’s_ back?”

Pepper smirked. “No. They won’t be answering any essential questions when they come in, trust me on that.”

Everhart blinked for a moment and then followed Pepper. Her eyes widened when she saw who was already upstairs. “Is that...?” She looked at Pepper, accusingly. “You know who the fiancée is, don’t you?”

“Of course.” She purposefully strode to Dick. “Christine Everhart, Dick Grayson,” she introduced.

Dick took her hand. “Miss Everhart. Pleasure.”

Pepper leaned forward to look out the window. “No sign of the car, yet?”

“Nope. Won’t be long, now, though,” Dick answered, moving back to the window.

Pepper grinned at Everhart. “Best seats in the house.”

Everhart looked out, seeing the cars delivering more or less well known celebrities being welcomed by photographers who really only waited for one guest to arrive.  
“And why are you sharing this spot with me?”

Pepper smiled at her benignly. “Maybe I was just feeling generous.”

“Right...”

“Or maybe I thought that since your appearance usually heralds doom and despair I should keep you out of the way.”

“That was not my fault!”

The true reason would have been, _’I really just wanted to see your face when they get out of the car,’_ but Pepper didn’t want Everhart to figure that one out, before the happy couple actually arrived. Her being here was already enough of a hint, really.

Dick’s announcement, “Car’s here!” made all of them end the conversation and stick to the window, so it didn’t matter. Wayne’s car was now only second after the one that had people exit at the moment whom Pepper had never before seen in her life but the photographers took pictures of anyway.

“They took the Lamborghini,” Pepper noticed.

Everhart raised an eyebrow. “Darkened windows. Subtle.”

“Makes the rise of the curtain much more effective,” Pepper said.

Dick snickered.

Everhart was already surprised when she saw both the doors open at once; she had expected Bruce to either open the door for his fiancée or at least let a porter do it...  
Then her eyes widened in surprise and narrowed in confusion when she saw the two men exit with sure steps.  
_Then_ her jaw dropped and her breath hitched as the realisation set in and the world pretty much stopped dead.  
“You’ve _got_ to be kidding me.”

“Nope,” Pepper and Dick said, unison.

Everhart wanted to look at the people with her to see if they were making fun of her, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the two men outside. Finally, while Bruce handed over his key for the car to be parked and walked around the front, Tony held out his hand and... Bruce took it without hesitation but instead with a smile.

Dick laughed. “The flashes must be blinding out there.”

They watched on as Tony and Bruce obligingly stood still for a moment and smiled into various cameras.  
They watched on as Tony grinned in a reaction to something a photographer apparently said, while Bruce looked at his fiancé, sporting an expression somewhere between amused and inviting.  
Only Pepper and Everhart watched on as the men outside kissed for the cameras.

Dick groaned and rolled his eyes. “Not again.”

The kiss ended and they headed inside.

Everhart kept staring outside at the spot that had previously been occupied by Misters Wayne and Stark. “They’re serious,” she managed to say after a long moment, because that one was obvious from seeing Tony and Bruce. They were serious.

Pepper smiled at her, this time more genuinely. “They are.”

“I didn’t think he had it in him,” Everhart blurted out. “The going steady, I mean, not the...” She cleared her throat when she realised exactly what she said and how she phrased it.

Pepper laughed. “Yes, well... neither did he.”

 

As he had intended, Lucius ‘caught’ the two most sought-after and eligible but no longer available billionaires right at the entrance and tried to make sure that they survived the event relatively uninjured.

While Dick had decided to stay well out of the way, at least until the worst of the shit storm was over, Pepper directed Everhart towards Tony and Bruce. She wasn’t entirely sure why she so readily brought the woman along, probably facilitating some interview questions for her as well, but she had a feeling it had something to do with wanting to show her that she was wrong about Tony’s morals as well as his personal attitude. Her protective streak had apparently been taken to a whole new level.

The women caught the last snippets of a conversation the men in question were having with the artist whose art opening it actually was.

“Oh, you do?” the woman asked Tony, sounding surprised. “I was not aware of that.”

Bruce looked at him oddly.

Tony raised an eyebrow at him. “I can’t blame you that you never noticed. The painting is in the bedroom.” He smirked. “It’s the orange one.”

That revelation made the artist laugh, lightly. “I remember now,” she said. “I believe it is one of the chakra paintings, and I assure you that it suits both of you as well as the location you chose for it, perfectly.” With that, she excused herself.

Tony made a mental note to google the shit out of orange chakras, while Bruce tried to remember what he already knew.

Bruce smiled slightly when he remembered some part of it and blinked in surprise when Tony held out a glass of champagne for him that he had taken off a waiter’s tray.  
“My hero,” he grinned.

“It’s what I’m here for.” Then Tony noticed Pepper arriving with… “Oh, God,” he complained. “You know, whenever you show up, something bad happens.”

Everhart rolled her eyes and held out her hand to Bruce. “Christine Everhart. A pleasure, Mr Wayne.”

Bruce took the hand. “Likewise, Miss Everhart.”

Tony looked at her darkly. “Don’t even think about it. He’s taken.”

She sighed (while Pepper bit her lip) and said, “I’m not like you, you know,” hinting broadly at his tendency to take home everything that wasn’t screwed in place – pun only partly intended.

“And a good thing, that, too,” Tony said. “Or you _could_ have him.”

“No, she couldn’t,” Bruce disagreed immediately. “One of you is more than enough.”

“Charming,” Tony replied, dryly and then got lost in the look Bruce sent him for a second.

Everhart leaned forward a bit. “Congratulations, by the way.” The men turned to look at her. “What I was going to say before you greeted me so nicely,” she added directed at Tony, accusingly.

Tony’s hand went to his chest. “I am traumatised, you now.”

He had meant it jokingly (ignoring the truth to the statement), but Everhart refused to take it that way. “I know,” she said, nodding once.

Tony blinked at her.

“So, like I said. Congratulations. Seriously.”

Tony still merely looked at her, as if he was unsure whether or not she was insulting or at least teasing him, so Bruce answered for him: “Thank you.”

This startled Tony out of his reverie. “Yeah. That. Thanks.”

Pepper looked satisfied at the development of the situation and Everhart joined her after a second. “So,” she changed the topic, though not really, “when’s the big day, then?”

“We have no date, yet,” Bruce said, smoothly, but Tony appeared to have other plans.

“The formalities and party should be soon,” he said. “We’re practically married, already, anyway.”

Everhart tilted her head. “Are you taking care of those ‘formalities’ out of the country?”

“Don’t see why we should,” Tony said, and he was well back in the mood from that morning when he had realised that, goddammit, if he wanted to get married, the country should fucking well let him. “Won’t mean a damn thing the moment we cross the border again.”

For some reason, she understood what he was really saying. “You’re trying to set an example,” she said, sounding surprised while knowing that she shouldn’t be. She had underestimated that man more than enough already.

“His idea, not mine,” Tony replied, nudging Bruce with his shoulder. “I’m really just pissed off.”

Bruce grinned at him. “That is a marvellous reason to get married,” he said, sarcastically.

“You know where I stand in this, cupcake,” he said, quietly, not really looking at anyone. “I’m wearing your ring, ergo we’re married.” He turned to look at Everhart again. “You have my permission to call him my husband in that article you’re dying to write just now.”

Everhart startled. “I wasn’t...”

Tony just smirked at her, leaned closer and towards the small purse she was carrying, speaking into it. “That thing turned on, Miss Brown?”

She held her purse hiding the small recording device closer to herself. “I wasn’t going to use any of that,” she bit out, angrily.

Tony sighed, dramatically. “What do you think, darling?” he asked Bruce with the same playful air as the sigh.

“Well... I guess we can trust Miss Everhart with this... _extremely_ sensitive material.”

Tony snickered. “Use whatever you want,” he told her.

She narrowed her eyes at him, challenging. “Alright. Any interesting modifications your respective companies will have to expect?”

“No,” Tony and Bruce said at the same time, and Tony bowed courteously, letting Bruce answer the question.

“An official press release will be out,” he checked his watch, “right about now. Basically, there might be more joint projects, similar to the ones that have been done already. Other than that, no merging or fusing or the likes. We both like our babies just the way they are.”

“Bruce and Pepper get everything, should something happen to me, though,” Tony threw in.

Bruce took a step closer to Tony, partly playing the worried billionaire fiancé and partly actually being worried. “And Tony and Dick get everything, should something happen to me.” As well as Alfred and to a part Lucius, but that was not something that he needed to be public knowledge. Partner and son was enough and made the most sense, nobody would question it or ask for more information that he did not intend to give.

Tony smiled at him, something between cheekily and lovingly. “Nothing will happen to either of us.”

“It had better not,” Bruce replied immediately and leaned in for a small, close-lipped but still unmistakably intimate kiss.

Everhart’s lip twitched and she squinted at Pepper who returned the look with a meaningful one of her own.  
She cleared her throat when they ended the kiss. “In light of the recent revelations and in relation to the first joint project between Wayne Enterprises and Stark Industries... when did the nature of your relationship change?” She consciously put it in a way so that she could use it as a direct quote.

Bruce tilted his head at Tony. “Do you remember the exact date?”

“Are you kidding? The only date I don’t forget is my own birthday, and that’s only because that’s the best excuse for a big party.” They were both lying, and they both knew it. They remembered the date they met, the date of the first official meeting as CEOs, the date they had designed the rings, and now the date they had exchanged them. But that was none of anyone’s business.

“Anyway,” Bruce added, “the nature of our relationship changed within hours of meeting, to be honest.”

Tony grinned. “At which point we had agreed to a business meeting, but it was still one whole day until it took place.”

Bruce chuckled. “It did make the meeting more interesting.”

“It’s much easier to deal with someone I already know gets me.” That was a surprisingly serious answer. It was also pretty much Tony saying that he didn’t like to deal with people. As he and everyone else were well aware, hardly anyone understood him. And most people didn’t mind one bit...

Pepper snorted. “The first time he actually _wanted_ to work.”

“ _Thank you_. That will be all, Miss Potts,” Tony complained, making everyone hide their laughs more or less successfully.

The recording device kept serving its purpose.

 

That was how Christine Everhart ended up staying close to the pair all evening without really intruding, already seeing the article about the two billionaires writing itself, word for word. In return for the courtesy, she fully intended to create the article in Wayne and Stark’s interest. Which, she was perfectly aware, had been one of the reasons she was now here and not kept at distance by a horde of guard dogs.

At one point, however, Tony uttered an exasperated, “Oh, hell,” and downed his drink in one gulp. He shared a look with Bruce and directed him away from everyone around them and towards the man who had just entered.

“Colonel!” he greeted Fury loudly, stalking towards him with Bruce in tow. “What a surprise!”

They shook hands, formally, and finally Fury said, “I came to offer my congratulations, personally. And possibly some help...?” he made the latter part sound like a question. When Tony and Bruce didn’t seem to know right away what he was talking about, he elaborated: “I’m not sure if you two are aware what broader implications an event like the one you're planning could have.” He sent them a meaningful look.

“So, basically, what you’re saying is...” Tony started, “a wedding like that could be something of an all-you-can-eat buffet for Doctor Evil.”

Bruce grinned at Fury’s exasperated look. “We did think about that, actually,” he assured the Colonel. “You might want to talk to Alfred. We already sketched something in that direction.”

“Ah, yes. Your... _butler_ ,” Fury reacted to the name immediately. “I did a background check on him. Impressive.”

“I’ll let him know you think so,” Bruce replied, not surprised in the least that Fury had dug deeper. He wouldn’t even have been surprised if he’d done that way before the revelations of some hours ago, either.

Fury’s offer to help was probably as close to an apology they’d ever get, but Tony was in too good a mood to not accept it, so he slung an arm around Bruce’s waist and kissed him on the cheek.  
“Alfred is a smug little bugger, I’m sure his ego can take it.”

As the night winded down, Tony and Bruce managed to sneak out (on their tenth attempt, give or take a little), leaving photographers with pictures, journalists with headlines and other guests with stories to tell.

*

_WAYNE AND STARK MERGE!_

That headline – or any given other of similar (un-)originality – the next morning was accompanied by a picture of the two billionaires kissing in front of the gallery. This particular one happened to be prominently on the Gotham Gazette cover.

Dick threw it onto the table when Bruce and Tony entered the dining room.  
“Aren’t you two the cutest?” He smirked at them.

Indeed they were in the dining room and not the kitchen that day. Not because Alfred had insisted on it, but because there was hardly any room for any food on the large table as it was, what with a huge number of newspaper strewn all over it, Pepper and Dick leafing through them.  
It was also indeed still morning. Much to Bruce and Tony’s chagrin, Tony had to leave for New York before lunch, meeting the board, and then he had to head to Malibu, doing some more explaining in his home territory. It had been unavoidable, and even Tony had realised the importance, but that didn’t mean that they had to like it.

The two men joining the reading party were much more interested in the coffees that had been put on the table for them by Alfred the moment they had walked in than in the papers. Still, they couldn’t help but grin at the headlines.

They both drank their coffees and skimmed a newspaper or other, until Tony tilted his head.  
“Do you think Batman in a rainbow cape would make the front page, too?”

Bruce pretended to give this some serious thought. “Well, in light of recent events I probably shouldn’t do that. It could link them back to me.” He smirked when Tony snorted. “But why don’t you get a rainbow paint-job for Iron Man? You’re the latest gay superhero, after all.”

“If I keep wearing purple shirts, do you think people will hold it against me?”

Bruce put his elbow on the table and his chin on his hand. “You look good in purple.”

“I look good in everything.”

Pepper cleared her throat. “As much fun as you two seem to be having, both your PR departments get bombarded with questions as to when the big day is going to be, amongst… other questions.”

“Soon,” Tony said.

Bruce agreed. “Yes. As soon as can be managed without being too much of a security risk.”

“Less time for the baddies to prepare. And the press shouldn’t be informed before the actual date.” He considered that. “They will find out, anyway, but we shouldn’t make things too easy for them.”

Pepper nodded. “The Colonel called, earlier. He seemed to share that view.”

“Will he drop by, later today?” Bruce wanted to know.

“He might come if he would,” Alfred said, stacking some papers that had already been read. “One can never quite tell with him.”

Dick closed another paper and handed it to Alfred. “That still leaves the question of the location...” he said.

Bruce and Tony shared a look.

*

In the end, they decided to have their special day in Gotham. If he was needed, Batman would be close by; the manor could at the same time host a lot of people and keep unwanted guests out at the estate’s gates; _and_ the weather forecast insisted that it would be sunny and warm on their chosen date, making Tony so much more agreeable to the idea.

The other question that had to be answered was who they should ask to officiate. It might not have had any legal weight, but at the same time, the person would give the ceremony (and therefore the point Bruce and Tony wanted to make) more impact if they were of some official importance.  
And while Jim Gordon did have some reservations, he accepted. Reluctantly. Ceremonials had never really been part of his world.

As for the ceremony itself... they would stand before Gordon, all three of them saying some important words, have witnesses (but no ring exchange, because Tony had flat-out refused to take his off, arguing that there was bound to be some sort of emergency that would make either of them lose it beforehand, and he was keeping _that_ ring and no other), their respective lawyers who would recite with a flourish that the couple had chosen the other to hold the power of attorney and to be the main beneficiary in case of death or possibly something less permanent, and then they would sign some copies of those papers symbolically.  
To sum up: a lot of grand words that shouldn’t really have meant all that much to either of them, at that point.

Yet, Tony ripped his bowtie off the collar for the umpteenth time in frustration.

Bruce tried his best not to laugh at him. “I did warn you that it would feel like something more than a signature on a redundant piece of paper when the day came around.” He walked towards Tony to help him with the tie.

Tony didn’t deign this with an answer. “Are you sure it’s not bad luck that we see each other before the whole show?”

With secure fingers and within a few seconds, Bruce adjusted Tony’s bowtie to his satisfaction. “The bride isn’t to see the groom before the wedding. This is not a real wedding, and as much as I love you, I refuse to be the bride, so...” He grinned. “Even Pepper and Alfred agreed on that.”

Tony huffed. “Stop making sense. Why do you always make sense? I never make sense.”

“You make sense to me,” Bruce said calmly, and kissed Tony. “Always did.”

Tony breathed deeply, his forehead against Bruce’s. “I can do this.”

“You can do this.”

“Even though I still have no idea what I’m going to say for that personal vow we’re supposed to do.”

Bruce chuckled. “I’m not entirely sure what I’m gonna say, either.”

Tony looked at him, tortured. “You’re supposed to be the guy with the plan,” he whined. It was hard enough to make declarations of undying devotion like that to Bruce while in private; this time, it would have to be something of a similar nature, but in front of an audience and the assembled press that would print every damn word he said.

“You are a horrible influence on me.” Bruce smirked. “I have a basic idea,” he admitted, “but I want to be able to say what feels right at that moment.”

Tony pointed a finger at him. “You’re going, first.”

“I’m going first,” he agreed again.

Their following kiss was interrupted by a knock on the door and a young man carrying a camera poking his head in.  
“You’re up,” he said, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb.

Tony scowled at him. “Parker. Out.”

“We’ll be right there,” Bruce said, grinning. Once the door was closed, again, he turned to Tony. “How old is he?”

Tony sent him a look. “About the same as Dick, so don’t even go there.”

Bruce sighed. “What is the world coming to?”

“As soon as they’re old enough, we’ll retire and let the kids take over,” Tony said, decisively, not meaning a single word he said.

Bruce chuckled.

Tony, apparently over his breakdown for the moment, took Bruce by the hand and pulled him out of the room. “Let’s get hitched.”

~

In the end, once Gordon came to, “And now I believe you gentlemen have your own vows,” not even the beautiful weather and the picturesque manor in the background could ease either of their nerves.

Bruce held onto Tony’s hands, he himself now trembling slightly, too, and breathed.  
“I was told that I had to go first,” he started, making some guests laugh a bit. “So, here goes.”

Tony’s fingers tightened reflexively around Bruce’s.

“Tony Stark appeared on my personal radar for the first time with his kidnapping, to which my initial reaction was something along the lines of _’you reap what you sow’_. Don’t run away!” he added quickly, only half-joking.

Tony just smiled ruefully.

“Nevertheless, I was of course glad he got rescued. Spectacularly rescued.” He looked into the near distance. “I kept an eye on him after that first press conference, and both eyes after the second.” He smirked. “I then decided to do business with that crazy man and his company, should the opportunity arise.” He looked at Tony, his eyes sparkling. “Once I managed to trick him into a meeting, he...” Bruce shrugged, helplessly. “I was his within the first few hours,” he admitted, freely. “And I never regretted choosing that path.”

Tony looked at him dubiously but still smiled.

Bruce grinned as an answer. “No, I never regretted it. You sometimes drive me insane, but I never wished for something else since I met you.” He nodded in a way that remarkably looked like a _’so there’_ , making Tony bite back a laugh. Most guests didn’t even try.

“Tony Stark. You are known to get what you want.” Bruce’s lip twitched. “And so am I.” He looked straight into Tony’s eyes. “You got me this far. I accept your challenge of a life with you.”

Tony smiled widely. _That_ he could answer.  
“That’s it. Right there.” He shook his head and shrugged a little. “I could go way back to where I first heard about that young billionaire taking over the business world, or to the fact that we both have a father and his name to live up to, or that we both try to move things… in our own respective ways.” He grinned, just this side of mischievously. “I could go back to when we first met and give an account of that, even though it would pretty much sound like yours. But the point is… You _get_ me. You don’t even have to challenge me, you _are_ my challenge. And I love it. You.” He tried to stop, there, he really did. He tried to remember the crowd and the press and the world, but… “I love you.”

“I can live with that,” Bruce said, dryly, then laughed at Tony’s indignant expression. “I love you, too.”  
He then decided that they had talked enough, negotiated enough, declared enough… and framed Tony’s face with both hands and pulled him into a kiss, sealing said talks, negotiations and declarations.

Tony smiled into the kiss at first, before returning the embrace and losing himself in it for the long moments it lasted, the cheers of their guests accompanying them.

 

And when they parted they both thought that maybe… their little scheme wasn’t only for their audience, after all.

 

**END**

_2010-05-07_

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